Naruto Chaos Demon
by fg7dragon
Summary: As a new being after the Magia Erebea took away his humanity, Naruto strives to live his life free from those who wish him and his Clan, the Fuhen, harm. But with Orochimaru, the Akatsuki and many others coming out of the woodwork to ruin his plans, that isn't going as well as it should. Especially when the world could end even if they do stop Madara's plans.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Negima or Naruto. Negima is the property of Ken Akamatsu, and Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

_Italics text = character thinking to themselves._

_Underline+Italics = character communicating with telepathy_

**Bold text = shouting**

_**Bold+Italcs = Casting Spell/Ability**_

**Chapter One**

**Demons and their Seals**

"_Can I kill this brat?"_ Naruto telepathically asked Hinata as his right eye twitched in annoyance.

"_No. This IS, after all, an escort and bodyguard mission."_ Hinata reminded him with a mental sigh.

"_How about afterwards?"_ Naruto pointed out.

"_No love, you can't."_ Hinata said firmly.

"Are you two even listening to me?" Shion, priestess of the Land of Demons, demanded.

"Hm?" Naruto tilted his head, giving her a mocking look. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something? I was so _utterly terrified_ by the prospect of my imminent death that I got lost in my thoughts… thinking of an epitaph and all that, ya' know?"

"I see you are not taking my words seriously at all." Shion scowled as her aide, Taruho, tried to placate her.

"Maybe it's because you don't seem to understand who you are talking to, _child_." Naruto said coldly as he fixed her with a firm look, freezing her in place. "I am not some mere guard whose line of work is keeping thugs and bandits at bay. I am not some advisor that bends backwards to your whims. I am a SHINOBI. The moment we put this Hitai-ate on, it's all but certain we at least halved out lifespan. Out of a generation, we're lucky if we can have one person die of old age, rather then get killed in battle. This is how shinobi work. Live, kill and die for our village. So whatever prediction of death you may have for me… it doesn't scare me a damn bit since I've been prepared to die before you could even talk properly. Is that perfectly understood?"

"Y-Yes." Shion whispered, looking at him in surprised fascination.

"Besides, it's not like some pathetic demon like Mōryō could kill me." Naruto snorted in an arrogant tone. "I've fought Biiju, Demon Lords, and either defeated them or obtained a draw. This guy is nothing on them." _"Or me, for that matter."_ He added to himself as his teammates for this mission, Hinata, Lee and Karin shook their heads in amusement while the young priestess grew an annoyed tick mark at his attitude.

_Flashback – after awakening from the coma induced by his transformation_

"You gave us quite a scare there, Naruto." Tsunade admitted as she took a seat at the side of his bed, having arrived as soon as word of his awakening reached her. "I don't think I ever felt so helpless. Even when Dan died, at lest I knew that it wasn't that my skills that were too week, but his wounds to great. With you… we didn't even know what was really wrong with you. All we knew was that if was caused by that trice damned hunk of rock those fucking idiots from Hoshigakure have been practically worshipping."

"Sorry." Naruto muttered awkwardly. "I really didn't want to put you in that kind of position again. You didn't end up with any phobias again, did you?"

"Thankfully, no." Tsunade snorted before fixing him with a firm look. "How are you feeling, and I mean _really_ feeling."

"Well…" Naruto considered things a bit. "On one hand, I don't feel any pain and don't seem to be on the verge of exploding."

"But…?" Tsunade pressed on.

"On the other hand, my control is shot to hell." Naruto attempted to raise his fist to rub his forehead, only to smack himself over the face. "Ack! See what I mean?"

"Ugh, muscle memory all but gone." Tsunade grimaced. "That will be a pain to recover. You'll have to relearn everything from walking to taijutsu. And I mean everything. You can barely control your facial muscles and tongue to talk properly, aren't you?"

"Yeah, not to mention that I'm pretty sure I'm physically stronger then before… I don't know why though, my muscles at least look the same." Naruto said thoughtfully.

"Hm, hold still a bit…" Tsunade made a couple of handsigns before pressing her green glowing hands on his thigh… before pulling away just as quickly. "Yeah, like I suspected. The _quality_ and _composition_ of your body changed, even if your appearance did not."

"To that of a demon, right?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"You knew this would happen?" Tsunade asked.

"Of course." Naruto shrugged. "The transformation I went through was pretty much like the one Negi did, with a few key differences."

"What differences?" Tsunade demanded.

"Well, for starters, it was not triggered by me loosing control over my darkness, but by something else forcing my darkness to overwhelm me." Naruto began. "Fortunately, I had accounted for this possibility though I had Kyu-chan's youki in mind at the time. Secondly, unlike Negi I did not momentarily die and got reborn as a Shinso-like demon. This is something that took me a lot of time to achieve, since if I died…"

"The Shiki Fuin." Tsunade grimaced.

"Yep." Naruto nodded. "So I had to change that bit. Thankfully, with the Shinso vampire traits from Evangeline, Tengu traits from Setsuna and demonfolk traits from Mana, not to mention all the influence Kyubi's youki has had on my body, I was able to change the Death and Rebirth part to something akin to evolution. I think I'll call it Transcendence, since I've surpassed my human condition without discarding it through death, like demons are usually born."

"Interesting… the transformation part of our bloodline helped in this, I believe." Tsunade mussed.

"A lot. I had to use is as the means, with Eva and Kyubi's anatomy as the goal, but I think it worked rather well… with a small exception, of course." Naruto frowned as he opened his left eye revealing the demonic sight glowing maliciously.

"So what happened, exactly?" Tsunade leaned forward. "I'm no seal expect, but with the Hakke Fuin no longer on your body I have to guess you destroyed it?"

"Assimilated would be more appropriate." Naruto corrected. "Part of the ritual was an overpowered mix of the _**Εκμηδένιση των Ψυχών**_ and an exorcism spell, which in a nutshell broke any and all personality within the contents of the seal before imprinting my own on it. The next part was adding all that power to my own, using those four huge crystals to create artificial energy cores, the ones for Mana and Ki merging with my own. This way, I can now naturally produce Mana, Ki, Youki and Reiryoku. The final part was adapting my body to take strain of such power, which ended up turning me into a demon from an anatomical standpoint."

"Interesting…" Tsunade pondered. "I'll have to give you a full examination later. For now, rest. About that eye though…"

"Removing it won't solve the issue, and healing it is out of the question since my body recognizes it as healthy." Naruto sighed. "I _might_ be able to see with it if I use a lot of youki though it, but I'm not taking any chances right now. I'll place some seals on it to make sure it won't act up again."

_Flashback End_

The revelation that he had become a demon had been pretty much expected by the rest of the Fuhen, what with Eva and Negi's own experiences. And, it obviously did not bother them one bit, especially the five Biiju members of the Fuhen Clan.

What the revelation _did_ do was give them another reason for celebration besides Naruto's return to health: him _moving up in the world_, as Kyubi had put it. And it was admittedly quite a leap. While he had been considered among the most powerful members of the clan, he had always admited that Kyubi could squash him were she to fight him at her full power, white Eva would do the same. Rather, before the transformation he considered himself on pretty much the same level as Negi, Sextum and Mana, with Anya somewhat weaker due to her inexperience.

Now, having fully assimilated more then nine tails worth of Youki, Reiryoku and bumping his Mana and Ki reserves to the same level he would be even stronger then Kyubi and Eva combined… when he managed to cast an _**Ardescat**_ spell without it blowing up in his face.

In the end, he had had to have Jiraiya cover him from head to toe with Resistance seals, which impeded any and all movement to a great degree – in other words allowing him to function as a normal person even though a mere flick of his fingers could form craters.

Even as he toured the priestess's mansion with Taruho as guide, he could not help but be depressed, having been reminded by his condition… or rather the rehab that followed.

Evangeline had merely been turned into a Shinso vampire by the Lifemaker. Her power she had gained herself, from her massive mana reserves to her superhuman physical abilities. While she had been sealed at Mahora, the only reason why her physical prowess had been reduced to that of a ten year old human girl was because her superhuman strength relied directly on her Mana, which was almost completely sealed off, leaving her enough to live on.

In Negi's case, while normally the inhuman energy Evangeline had left behind in the Magia Erebea scroll would have either killed or turned a human into a mindless monster, his own ancestry had thumped most of the physical changes and merely granting him a slight increase in the quality of his body as well as the Shinso regeneration and energy reserves.

Naruto, however, already had too many demonic elements in himself for anything but a drastic change to occur. He had been changed inside and out to function on Youki, Reiryoku, Mana and Ki, to harness his full power without sustaining damage himself, something akin to a dream to Jinchuriki who were both being healed an harmed by their Biiju cloaks, the second form several times more then the first – the name Blood Shroud said enough about the price for using it.

Tsunade had had to throw out the window most of what she knew of biology when it came to him, literally starting off from scratch… and she started small, delegating a willing assistant to obtain the samples…

_Flashback_

"Oi, anyone here?" Naruto called out as he entered Tsunade's cabinet within the compound, ruthlessly squashing his annoyance at having all his abilities unavailable at the moment. The loss of his sensory skills were what depressed him the most, as they were something he had honed practically his entire life in order to keep him safe from violent villagers and later enemy ninja.

"I'll be right there, Naruto-kun!" a voice called out, but with it being muffed by a closed door and with Naruto's enhanced hearing not fully in tune he could not recognize it, but assumed it was Tsunade. "Just undress and take a seat."

Shrugging, the blond stripped to his boxers and sat down on edge of the hospital issue bed.

A couple minutes later the office door opened and in came Kushina, wearing a white nurse outfit which hugged her bodies quite nicely, emphasizing her curves while the miniskirt showed enough of her thighs to entice him even without the neckline of her shirt being deep enough to give him a good look of their cleavage.

"_36DD"_ Naruto mussed as he looked at Kushina before mentally shaking his head at such thoughts popping up. _"I've been around Jiraiya for too long."_ "So… I take it Tsunade asked you to… do whatever she asked me here for?"

"Yes, she's a bit busy so she delegated me to take specific samples from you." Kushina smiled. "I think it might have something to do with her desk spontaneously combusting when she left to take a break a few days ago."

"Ah, Shizune finally gathered duplicates of all the documents she torched and is blackmailing her with a sake ban." Naruto nodded sagely.

It was fifth time since she took the hat.

"I'll start, if that's okay with you, by taking a chakra sample using a couple methods." Kushina suggested.

"Alright." Naruto nodded at her to go ahead.

"First off, I'll use this seal." Kushina said as she took a palm sized seal tag and placed it on his chest. "It will draw a small portion of your energy. Normally, that would mean chakra, but you now have Youki and Reiryoku permanently mixed with it so I won't be surprised if it draws on that as well." she informed him as she activated the seal, which lit up for a second before turning blue. "That's it." she took it and placed it in a plastic sample bag. "Next, I want you to try pushing your chakra in one of these." she said, giving him another identical seal tag.

Naruto placed a finger on the tagged and closed his eyes in concentration, trying to feel his chakra and chakra only. It was difficult, but after tracing both the Mana and the Ki back to their respective cores he was able to draw on those only, though a bit of Youki and Reiryoku got mixed into it on the way to the seal tag as well.

"That's it for the chakra samples. Blood samples next." Kushina informed him. "First off, we'll extract with a syringe." she grinned at the nervous twitch of his eye. "Still hate them, huh?"

"If I didn't have a healing factor, my ass would be full of holes from those things." Naruto muttered in annoyance.

Shaking her head, she tied his arm with a cord to stop the blood flow, found the vein, and quickly took the sample.

"Protocol says to disinfect it with alcohol so it heals quickly and healthy, but…" Kushina leaned in and slowly licked off the slight bit of blood that had pored out after removing the needle, leaving behind smooth skin "you obviously don't need it."

"Never did." Naruto grinned. "And it looks like you're beginning to like working with your element even more."

"Only with you, Naruto-kun, your blood is really tasty." Kushina teased. "Now, I will make a cut on your other arm and forcefully draw some blood with my powers. Try not to heal the wound too quickly." she instructed as she placed a vial next to his arm before making a deep cut with a scalpel and pressing her hand on the wound before pulling away along with a stream of blood which ended when the cut healed completely, leaving Kushina to deposit the blood in the vial. "That's it for the blood samples." she informed him.

"What's next?" Naruto inquired.

"First, a saliva sample. Open wide, and try not to choke." she told him before using the tampon on the very end of his tongue, having him have to suppress his gag reflex. "Good. Next, I need a hair…" she simply reached out and plucked a couple from his head and deposited them in a plastic bag.

"Anything else?" Naruto inquired only to pause as Kushina began to rub the strain on his boxers.

"Yes, a sperm sample." Kushina smirked at the widening of his eyes.

"Um…" Naruto looked at her a bit hesitantly.

"I'm not some shy little girl, Naruto-kun." Kushina rolled her eyes.

"Fine, if you really want to see me jack off the feel free to watch." Naruto rolled his eyes, as his member twitched.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun, you're not allowed to make effort, remember." Kushina said with an utterly false apologetic tone. "So I'll have to help you with that."

At this point Naruto distinctly remembered that before the mission to Hoshigakure he had pretty much been hiding from would-be rapists that were officially known as his fiancées. Clearly, they were not the only ones hunting him.

"You're enjoying this way too much." Naruto shook his head ruefully as Kushina pretty much ripped off his boxers.

"So will you, stud." Kushina smirked. "So, I gotta ask, how much is it turning you on, hm? Getting a handjob from your mother?"

"Not as much as a blowjob would." Naruto admitted, deciding to screw morals and decency and go with the flow.

"Naruto-kun, you pervert." Kushina bit her lip as she felt her body begin to react even more to the sight before her. "You're becoming quite shameless."

"You don't say." Naruto grunted as Kushina increased the pace of her strokes.

"Sadly, we need to get an uncontaminated sample… first." she muttered as he licked her lips, restraining herself from lowering her mouth on his engorge cock head.

"Well, I'm almost coming." Naruto warned her.

"Go ahead." she gave him the go-ahead as she positioned a wide vial in front of his cock head.

Naruto hissed in satisfaction when he finally released his load, spraying his cum in countless streams into the vial until it was on the verge of overflowing, as which point Kushina replaced it with her waiting mouth, her tongue stuck out in invitation. After a couple more bursts it was clear he was done so she quickly swallowed the bit if cum she had in her mouth before her mouth descended on his cock, giving the head a quick suck before backing off and eyeing his member for a bit.

"You know, I think you got a bit bigger. Tsunade said you were ten inches long before." Kushina pointed out. "You're… what? Eleven inches now?" she wondered after a critical glance.

"The benefits of evolution." Naruto grunted as she gave his entire length a long lick. "You know, Kushina, considering that we were at one point mother and son, this comes as quite a surprise to me, you know."

"Well, I've pretty much abandoned the idea of a mother-son relationship as soon as I finished looking through the memories you've allowed me to see. In all honestly, you're more mature then I am." She admitted. "But I still wanted to be close to you, I still care for you deeply… though not as a son… rather… well, ever since that time in the bath with Kyubi and Mikoto, I've been getting turned on more and more just by being around you. And after that incident with Ino… it was like a damn burst and all that was left of my restraint was washed away…" she paused in her ministrations to look him straight in the eye. "I think I love you, Naruto-kun… I'm not entirely sure, considering how my last relationship ended, but…" she bit her lip and looked down, only for her head to jerk up as Naruto's hand caressed her cheek.

"I'm a bit confused as well when it comes to emotions, but I'm attracted to you, Kushina-chan, quite a lot. I have been for a while now." Naruto spoke. "I think I love you as well… but let's leave that for later… right now, I want you." he whispered huskily.

_Flashback End_

That had been quite a wild afternoon, especially considering they never went beyond mutual oral sex, as they had no idea if the contraceptive jutsu were still effective on him. A few weeks of tests later confirmed that yes, his now demonically potent seed would have been mostly unaffected by the jutsu, which led Tsunade, Mana and the Biiju to promptly work together and develop more potent variants.

His rehabilitation in the physical arts had taken surprisingly little time; mostly due to the most amazing jutsu ninja-kind has created during its 600+ years of existence.

Seriously, he had actually made a small shrine for the scroll containing the_** Kage Bunshin no jutsu**_ in the library. Even a brain dead monkey could use it if it had enough chakra and a poor understanding of the theory, especially when using the cross handsign. Sure, it wasted almost half of the chakra one put in the jutsu if they did not have enough control, but considering how large Naruto's reserves were the less he had left, the better he could control it.

Still, it had taken him approximately eleven years within the Diorama Sphere to gain full control over his body, a little over half a year in the outside world, enough to take off most of his physical restraints on regular days. However, while the 'shape', per say, of his body, his inner structure had changed quite a bit. From what Ku Fei and Eva had explained to him, the human body had three types of muscles: White Muscles, Red Muscles and Pink Muscles.

White Muscle is fast contraction muscle, used in fast exercises, for quick bursts of power but had low stamina.

Red Muscle is slow contraction muscle, used in exercise requiring long-time contractions, with great stamina but low overall power.

Pink Muscle is a combination of the two other muscles giving you explosive power and stamina, but existed in rather small quantity in the human body, though it could be built up after extensive workouts with a persons maxed out weight limit, though it was a slow and exhausting process.

The transformation via the Magia Erebea had had different effects on the users concerning their body structure. Evangeline had had almost all of her muscles converted into pink muscle through her transformation into a Shinso, however due to low muscle mass and age her physical power was dependent on her magical reserves, hence her severely weakened state during her time at Mahora. Negi had had far more muscle mass then Eva when his transformation had occurred, but only around 40% had been changed into pink muscle, mostly which had been red muscle as his fighting style was not based on outlasting his opponents – rather, he focused on quickly putting them down. Chao had been rather unfortunate with her transformation – it never truly occurred. Instead, while her soul had been attuned to the dark magic, her body had only slowly changed to match the upgrades she should have received, mostly through her own used of the Fuhen full transformation, after studying Eva's body as well as Nibi's who was more physically predisposed between the two early released Biiju.

In Naruto's case, however, not only had almost all his muscle been converted to the high quality pink muscle, but even that had been enhanced further by the spiritual and demonic energies that Eva and Negi had gained only after their transformation. Naruto, having them beforehand, had had them take part in his evolution, which had led to him not being able to hold a titanium spoon without making dents in it.

Still, the sad fact was that even after regaining his control, all his muscle memory in terms of taijutsu had been erased. Even worse, while he had relatively quickly relearned the Academy Taijutsu style, as well as Goken and several styles of the Chinese martial arts that he had used before, even learning all he had on Juken to the point of being near mastery, the simple fact was that it no longer fit his body. In the past, his muscle structure was mostly of red muscle with relatively small amounts of white and pink muscle, using speed enhancing techniques like Shundou to compensate for the lack of sudden explosive power. Now though, he no longer needed them on a general basis as they would merely waste his energy which, while enormous was not something he was willing to throw around like nothing in real battle.

Therefore, he had taken up the task of creating his own style, much like Gai Maito had created the Goken. Of course, just like Gai had used the Senju style as inspiration, Naruto used large parts of the Goken, Juken, Kawazu Kumite, Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Jujitsu, Aikido as well as Kanka enhanced Iaiken to develop what he decided to call _**Konton Ryū-Ryū Ryū**_ AKA _**Chaos Dragon Flow Style**_, for multiple reasons, from his fast unpredictable movements that seemed to flow like a maelstrom, to his demonic form being of the draconic kind, similar to Negi's, which tuned his Kanka aura to easily compress around his limbs in dragon-like claws as well as enveloping his white feathered wing and his black scaled one in a dragon-shaped aura as well, with multiple tails depending on how much Youki or Reiryoku he was using to enhance the technique.

In terms of ninjutsu and magic, he was still fighting an uphill battle. He was relatively up to the same level he had been when he had undergone the transformation, true, but rather then considering it an achievement, it was actually quite the disappointment to him. After all, with all the hard work he had put up in mastering his inner energies ever since he had began to train seriously around the age of six, after all the sacrifices he had made, to be reduced to the position of sealing off almost 80% of one's power simply because he could not truly control that much was quite a blow to his ego. Hundreds of thousands of Kage Bunshin under Chishio Bunshin continued to work at all times in various Diorama Spheres to gain greater control over his energies. In almost three years of continuous work he had only managed to reduced the amount of power sealed off from 85% to 80%, only by 5%, and while he knew exactly what was holding him back from going further, he also knew he was not ready to face that challenge.

He was not ready to face his _True Self_ as Yugito had when the Hachibi Jinchuriki, Killer B, had taken her to a place called Waterfall of Truth on a secret island under Kumogakure's jurisdiction. Not necessarily because he was afraid of what his 'dark side' looked like, but because the fragments of the Great Grand Master's Key that he held within himself had used the link of the Pactio cards once the seal had collapsed to draw the Fragments that had been under Ichibi, Nibi, Sextum and Anya's care, merging with his own to create a 60% complete Key… before being absorbed by his 'dark side'… along with _his_ chakra imprint and soul fragment.

_Flashback_

Pain.

That was all he knew at the moment.

Endless excruciating pain as his body tore itself apart from inside-out and then reset itself in a healthy form before it began to destroy itself again.

He did not _understand_ how it was happening. He did not _care_ how it was happening. All he knew was that it was that god damned hunk of rock's fault, and all he wanted was to make the pain end.

Not through death, no. No, that would damn not only him, but his friends and loved ones as well. What he needed was to detach his mind from the pain. Let it rip his body apart a million times for all he cared. His Shinso regeneration could handle it. After all, it only required energy which was provided richly not only by his own chakra reserves, but the Youki in the Hakke Fuin and the continuous supply of Reiryoku from nature that his body was now always drawing upon.

What he needed to do was submerge himself in the depths of his mind and put a lid on the pain, so he can focus on fixing the problem… or at the very least seal it away until he _could_ fix it.

After all, as much as he was confident that he had quite a bit of experience and knowledge in just about every field, either directly or due to the memories he had assimilated from Orochimaru, Kisame and Zetsu, he had to admit that he was in no condition to risk fixing the problem when he didn't even partially understand it.

Slowly, oh so slowly, he called upon his lightning element manipulation before engulfing it in darkness element and… and shocking to hell his spine and nervous system as a whole. It was even more painful for a few moments, but afterwards everything momentarily faded to a dull ache.

He took that opportunity to center himself and dived into his inner world, appearing in his mindscape… or what he assumed was his mindscape, at least. After all, as far as he remembered – and he was pretty sure whatever had happened to him had yet to alter his memories to any significant extent or at all – his mindscape was NOT supposed to be a rainbow colored swirl in the process of being engulfed by a big ugly moon-sided glowing red eye with three black concentric rings each bearing three tomoe while the pupil was a black abyss to which everything seemed to be heading… including himself.

"Fuck!" Naruto swore before golden chains erupted from his back, anchoring him to what was… probably… the ground… only to shatter into particles after a few moments.

Naruto starred in shock at the sight. Those chakra chains were identical to the ones that Kushina had used to hold down Kyubi while she was rampaging. To simply dismiss them like this…

"No… it's not physically possible. And this isn't the physical world." Naruto grunted before closing his eyes and calming himself. A few moments later, just as he began being sucked towards the Eye at a faster pace, his eyes snapped open to reveal near copies of the one above only with a pitch black sclera bearing countless pinpricks of white light shining randomly. "Now then…" he spoke coldly and the world froze as he established his will upon the mindscape.

The Eye seemed to turn to glare at him, slamming what would be considered an ungodly killing intent upon him as the suction appeared to increase in power hundredfold… to no effect whatsoever.

"I don't know who you are… I can only assume your identity…" Naruto began as the colors began to settle into the landscape he had as his inner world, the castle bearing his memories taking form first followed by the surrounding grassy plain, the forest, sea, and the other locations he had willed into existence. "I don't **CARE** who you are right now. All that I care about is that you are invading my body, my mindscape. Do you actually believe mere _pain_ will be enough to make me completely lose control, fool?" Naruto growled as his eyes flashed and glowed angrily **"This is MY WORLD!"** he roared to the heaves as millions upon millions of black stakes materialized around the Eye before instantly darting at it, turning it into a pin cushion, yet only receiving a minor feeling of discomfort… which changed as silver chains connected to each and every stake earning a soundless howl of agony reverberating through the entire mindscape. **"FALL!"** Naruto roared as he willed the action, causing the Moon-sided Eye to begin its descent towards him, at the same time shrinking and shriveling up until it was the size of his fist as it landed before him, forming a relatively enormous crater… before darting at him, only to be repelled by a silvery barrier created by silver chains and then enveloped by countless other silvery chains which then melded into a full silver shell of glowing exorcizing power… which then began to shake wildly as soon as Naruto's focus slipped, only to stops as the blond returned his intent to restraining it. "Tsk, I guess I can't leave it be. Need to seal It." he mumbled in annoyance as he tried to think of a solution.

His eyes darted around the mindscape, occasionally returning to the silver orb as he considered his options.

"Tsk, a simple object won't hold for long. Something more… substantial would be required to contain it." he decided before releasing a dark chuckle. "A Jinchuriki within a Jinchuriki, huh? Why not, it's not like it would be the fist time. After all, while Negi and the others were separated from Kyubi upon being sealed in me, they were within the Juubi…" he paused and narrowed his eyes as the Sphere began to emit a malicious red glow "when it was sealed within the Rikudo Sennin."

With that in mind, he quickly created a Kage Bunshin and had it go to the castle, from where it returned with a few items.

The fragment of the Great Grand Master Key retrieved from Nagato.

A beach ball sized Stone of Gelel.

Two unraveled Hakke Fuin seal formulas on separate scrolls as well as their respective Keys and backups.

A few dozen charka crystals.

The backup Key for the Hakke Fuin imprinted upon his own body.

And last, but far from least, a massive scroll containing an advanced seal Naruto had developed for the past few months.

"_**Fūinjutsu: Nanatsu Kusari Genso Fūin**__… to think I would be forced to use this so soon..."_ Naruto scowled at the situation he was being put into.

Clearing his head, he quickly formed a few Kage Bunshin and made the few but critical arrangements necessary for what he had in mind.

"First chain it down to the first vessel…" Naruto muttered as silvery chains connected the silver sphere glowing malevolently red and the Gelel stone "then reinforce and actualize the concept of imprisonment…" the sphere and the chains were engulfed by a massive amount of chakra, crystallizing them to a solid form and diminishing the red glow to almost nothing. Smirking in satisfaction, Naruto placed the Gelel Stone on the first Hakke Fuin scroll _**"Seal!"**_ he called out and a moment later the silvery orb was draw within the Gelel stone it was connected to through the solid silver chains, leaving only eight silver links half submerged in the bluish green surface in an octagon shape.

That done, he quickly connected the eight links to new silvery chains with the Great Grand Master Key fragment before crystallizing these as well and repeating the sealing with the second Hakke Fuin scroll… before destroying the primary Keys and backups of the seals he had made.

"Now for the hard part…" Naruto muttered as he took the chakra crystals and began using his will to turn them into concepts and implanting them in the _**Nanatsu Kusari Genso Fūin**_ scroll in a certain pattern. With that achieved, he hurried with the large scroll and the Great Grand Master Key fragment to the one place in his mindscape he did NOT want to be at currently, but unfortunately needed to.

The mental manifestation of the seal that had until a few months ago held Kyubi: the enormous golden cage held shut by a sheet of paper bearing the kanji for SEAL… and the lock beneath it.

Removing the paper would have normally doubled the youki flow through his chakra network, while still holding the seal in place. While usually dangerous for Jinchuriki, for him it would have been an annoyance at best even without his friendship to Kyubi from a young age allowing her to regulate the flow to avoid hurting him. As an Uzumaki, his natural reserves would have diluted the youki to almost nothing while any damage would have healed shortly.

Now though, the mass of youki was resonating with the Eye even as it was behind two high level seals, filling the contents of the cage with malice, hatred and madness. In other words, exactly what he did NOT want to experience at the moment, considering what waited for him in the physical world. He had not illusions that there would be no aftereffects on his body from this incident.

But, as much as he wanted to avoid it, he had no choice. There was a limit to how many complex seals a single human body may hold, and he was already at the limit. That was one of the reasons why he had had to combine the _**Temporal Relocation**_ spell as well as Environmental Reiryoku Absorption Array with the Magia Erebea spell pattern rather then go with the safer and less complex route of adding them separately.

"This is gonna suck." Naruto said deadpanned as he reached out and began removing the paper seal… only for _someone_ to grasp his wrist as soon as he had peeled it off even slightly. _**"Shinra Tensei!"**_ Naruto's eyes flashed and everything within a meter radius around him was blasted away by a wave of gravity. Turning around, he was one part surprised, nine parts disgusted and ninety parts enraged by the sight of an older blond man bearing a striking resemblance to himself. "Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze." he spoke coldly.

"Now, now, is that how you greet your father?" Minato began with a smile.

"I believe 'sperm donor' is a more fitting description of the part you played in my life. You never got around doing the father part. You were too busy sacrificing me in order to give Konoha a malleable weapon." Antarctica itself would have shivered from the coldness in Naruto's voice.

"Now son…" Minato began, proving that he was either deaf, an imbecile, did not care what had just been said, or any combination of the three "I know you're a bit upset…"

"_A BIT?!"_ Naruto's eye twitched and only the reminder that loosing his temper would endanger not only his but the lives of his loved ones stopped him from going Kyubi on the former Hokage's ass.

"…but I did what I had to do. Konoha was far too weakened from the Kyubi no Yoko's rampage, it needed a trump card. And as much as it hurt me, my life was a necessary sacrifice to make sure the amount of power you had was enough for Konoha to suppress at need." Minato declared firmly.

Truly, he was an idiot.

"I don't remember volunteering to be Konoha's weapon minutes after I was born, Namikaze." Naruto hissed. "And most certainly not its Jinchuriki. While things turned out alright with Kyubi, had she taken offense to having a chunk of her power ripped away things would have turned ugly fast."

"Yes, I've seen of your _relationship_ with It." Minato said with a frown. "You shouldn't have let her out; she might hurt Konoha's citizens. But this gives you the opportunity to create another Jinchuriki. Not only it, but the other Biiju you have gathered as well. Think about it! If you plan it right, you could create hundreds of pseudo-Jinchuriki! An entire battalion of Konoha ninja wielding the power of the Biiju! None of the other Shinobi Nations would dare challenge Konoha!" he said enthusiastically.

"I have a better idea." Naruto smiled. "How about you go fuck yourself while I fix this mess and then go celebrate by ripping apart a few Konoha civilians."

"Like I thought, that _thing_ has corrupted you too much." Minato frowned, a cold look settling in his eyes. "If you refuse to serve Konoha with everything you have, then you are a threat to the village. I'm sorry, but I have to eliminate you. With your death, most of that dangerous clan of yours as well as the Kyubi will die as well, and Konoha will still be left with the Nibi and Yonbi Jinchuriki, as well as the Ichibi, Nibi, Sanbi and Yonbi which can be sealed once more."

A moment later, he had appeared on Naruto's side with a three-bladed kunai poised to strike at the Jinchuriki's neck, only to barely dodge when a long blade erupted from Naruto's shoulder aimed at his heart.

"Foolish worm, you dare challenge me in my own realm?" Naruto hissed in anger. "This is my world, Namikaze. Here, I am GOD." He declared and without further ado he faded from view as several Naruto's appeared around and above Minato, each emitting a dark red _**Ensis Exsequens**_ from both hands, the blades of pure energy impaling Minato like a pin cushion as he hesitated.

Still, his wounds did not kill him instantly, allowing him to collapse in a pool of blood as they dispelled.

"H-How…?" he choked on his blood.

"How did I prevented you from using the _**Hiraishin**_?" Naruto smirked. "Fool, have you heard nothing of what I said? I am god here. If I will you to be completely powerless, then powerless you are."

"Grk!" the former Kage coughed more blood.

"Now be good little shitstain and shut up. I have better things right now to do then play with trash like you." Naruto said as he turned to the matter at hand and ripped off the paper seal, revealing a spiral shaped lock. Without another word he pressed his palm on the lock as a seal script appeared on his right arm from palm to shoulder. Not bothering to physically twist it, he willed the lock to unravel and moments later the golden gates slammed open before breaking apart into particles of light which upon a mental command from Naruto remained floating in the air.

Darkness. Malice. Anger. Hate. Fear. Desperation. Loneliness. Malevolence.

All of them and more washed over him as an ocean of red Youki flooded his surroundings, momentarily making him loose his composure.

"_Are these Kyubi-chan's feelings?"_ Naruto wondered before getting a better grasp of the energy _"No… this power is no longer hers… it no longer reflects her… it has been colored by my psyche and mine alone for months, years actually with the help of the Diorama Spheres. These are MY emotions, my inner darkness…"_ he smiled grimly _"Well… I never denied that I'm a twisted person. I guess at least hypocrisy won't be on my list of defects…"_

With that conclusion he willed the power to stop and converge, to compress a distance from him… only he did not expect a shadow to suddenly envelop the mass of youki and compress it even further into a dark humanoid form, a black mist-like aura enveloping its full form.

"**We finally meet, heh?"** It spoke in a demonic voice.

"Who…?" Naruto took a step back in shock, quickly glancing back at the still barely alive Minato Namikaze after catching sight of sunny blond hair on the figure's head.

"**Me? Why, I'm you, of course! The REAL you!"** the figure cackled psychotically.

"The _real_ me?" Naruto grunted as several pieces of information came to the forefront of his mind. "Tsk, my darker half, you mean. I guess the Encroachment has already advanced to this stage? Though it's not complete considering you're not a mindless animal. I think I'll call you Yin."

"**So be it… Yang."** The figure allowed, a brief flash of its cheek revealing the three whisker-like marks that Naruto had once had, only thicker, darker, more animalistic.

"Well, I would love to stay and chat, but I have bigger things to worry about." Naruto began.

"**No, you don't, and we both know it."** Naruto could practically _feel_ the smirk in Yin's voice. **"After all, you **_**know**_** you cannot defeat me…"**

Before it could finish the sentence it had to dodge the Great Grand Master Key fragment that had been tossed at it.

"**Are you crazy, you…?" **Yin began in slight shock only for the bloodied form of Minato Namikaze to slam into it. "**Wha…?"**

A moment later the crystal walls that had once held the Ala Alba converged around the figure and forced it to become part of it.

"I don't need to beat you right now; I just have to get you out of the way." Naruto growled as the large scroll containing the sealing script of his design unrolled and wrapped around what was now a huge floating crystal orb containing the still unclear Yin, Minato Namikaze and the fragment of the Great Grand Master Key… no, it contained several fragments, some of which should not have even been in his mindscape but were nonetheless… and under his shocked eyes they merged into a rather big piece of the greatest of the Keys before he snapped out of it and finished the job.

"_**Nanatsu Kusari Genso Fūin!"**_ he declared _**"Seal!"**_ he called out as six crystalline energy chains, of Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light and Shadow wrapped around the orb while the seventh, of Darkness, connected the orb to his chest forming a pitch black spiral both there and on the orb before power and darkness coursed from inside the orb, from Yin, into Naruto, causing him roar in agony as his body overloaded with power. He barely willed the Hakke Fuin to close once more taking the form of Tori Gates around he orb before another layer as a red wooden cage which locked like before, and then swore as the spell pattern of the Magia Erebea went in overdrive an the Encroachment enveloped him.

Making his decision, he left the mindscape and barely managed to utter the appropriate instructions to Karin before his world became agony, which lasted for days, until his stabilization ritual was performed and he was reborn as a demon.

_Flashback End_

His inner musings were instantly dismissed as soon as a group of four ninja, with apparently rather twisted chakras at that, entered his sensory range.

"Karin." Naruto spoke up cutting off Taruho as he was explaining the preparations the village guards were making.

"_**Kagura Shingan."**_ Karin spoke as she closed her eyes for further focus. "Four of them, chunin to jounin level, three male and one female. All four have mid chunin chakra levels of their own, but they seem to have… worms? No, snakes of sorts in their bodies that act as additional chakra reserves, as well as… granting them elemental affinities that they may not naturally have. One of the males has a huge amount of snakes in him, but does not appear to be drawing on the chakra, unlike the others. Even if it's distorted, his chakra seems like that of a medic-nin so he's probably providing the other there with the snakes… or recharge the ones they have if necessary. The female has a very strong Katon affinity currently, while the males have Futon and Doton." she gave the brief report on the enemy nin.

"What…?" the priestess began in shock and confusion.

"Unyouthful enemies have arrived!" Lee pumped his fist, looking fired up and ready to fight.

"Settle down Lee, we're not fighting them here." Naruto ordered in a laidback manner.

"What do you mean?" Taruho demanded before bowing as Naruto's gaze moved to him, his icy blue right eye looking at him questionably while his useless by highly creepy dark left one remained motionless. "I mean no disrespect, but are you not here to protect Shion-sama?"

"We are. But I suppose you wouldn't mind of most of the village survives as well, do you?" Naruto commented.

"I do not understand." Taruho looked at him uncomfortably.

"Those guys have a lot of power. We could kill them no problem, but if we fight here most of the village will be wrecked." Karin said.

"They're already assaulting the gates… and went passed." Hinata commented. "Nine injured and three dead. They pretty much ran past the guards."

"Wait… then hime-sama must flee!" Taruho got up and hurried towards Shion who was staring at Naruto with a frown. "Come, Shion-sama, we must get you…"

"Don't even think about it." Naruto said casually. "There's no safer place for her right now then under our watch."

"B-But…!" the servant began flustered but the young priestess interrupted.

"If you're not going to fight here, nor flee, what will you do?" Shion inquired puzzled.

"Ask them to leave." Naruto smiled.

Hinata and Karin looked away to hide their amused smirks while Lee mentally translated Naruto's words into what he really meant to say and winced slightly.

"A-Absurd!" Taruho exclaimed. "You want to reason with…"

"I can be very persuasive." Naruto smiled pleasantly a she pointed his open right hand at a 60° angle towards the end of the room directly opposite from where their charge was sitting. "Which one is the medic-nin?"

"The one in the back." Hinata informed him, not even bothering to turn to look as her Gokei Byakugan was active.

"Tsk. I guess it's never that easy, huh?" Naruto asked rhetorically as his Rinnegan flared to life "Oh well. _**Shinra Tensei**_." he called out just as wicked cackle was heard from the exat direction his palm was facing… and a moment later everything in that direction was blasted away.

"W-Wh-Wha?" Shion was gaping at the now missing 36% of the room, seeing the evening sky clearly through the hole in the roof.

"I think I got them." Naruto commented blandly as he lowered his hand, his right eye once again blue.

"They haven't landed yet. They'll probably land around a mile and a half away; give it a few dozen feet." Hinata informed him before sipping from the tea they had been served.

"They won't come back for a while. It will take some time for that damage to heal, even if he's on Tsunade's level." Karin added.

"**What was that?"** Shion demanded, loosing her patience.

"That's what he calls persuasion." Lee hung his head, disappointed at the lack of action. "How unyouthful."

"There's no better kill then overkill." Naruto chuckled. "Still, while didn't kill them, they won't be after us for a while yet. More then enough time to put some distance between them and Shion."

"I see. I will hurry and assemble the escort." Taruho quickly got up from where he had fallen on his ass in shock.

"Yeah, hurry." Naruto nodded while telling Karin otherwise.

As soon as Taruho had ran past the group, he dropped flat with a senbon sticking out of his ass.

"What have you done to him?" Shion demanded angrily as she quickly got on her feet.

"Do you really want him tagging around, slowing us down further?" Naruto inquired.

"Well, no, but…"

"He's just asleep for a couple days, nothing more." Karin rolled her eyes as she retrieved her poisoned senbon.

"I see… let's go then." the blonde priestess decided.

"I like her; she seems to be thinking straight." Naruto smiled before adding "Besides that 'you're gonna die pierced through your chest' part, of course."

"Yeah, silly girl." Hinata chuckled. "It'll take more then that to kill Naruto-kun."

"Huh?" Shion was looking between them, not sure whether to feel complimented, angry or disorientated.

"Don't mind them; even in Konoha their clan is rather odd." Lee told Shion.

The poor girl was less then appeased considering who was attempting to settle her worries.

"Well, let's go." Naruto decided and swooped Shion off her feet, carrying her bridal style.

"H-Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Shion demanded.

"You didn't expect to _walk_ to the Shrine where Mōryō's body is, do you?" Karin asked incredulously. "That would take… like, weeks!"

"As much as we would like to walk around and have fun, we have a little thing like the End of the World to worry about right now. Maybe on the way back." Hinata told her.

"Until then, one of us will carry you, hime-sama!" Lee declared with fire in his eyes as he considered the journey.

"And unless you want to be squished on my back I'll be carrying you this way unless we get in a fight." Naruto finished.

"F-Fine. Just keep your hand to yourself." Shion looked away with a huff and a slight blush from the proximity.

"Shion-san, as pretty as you are I'm married…" Naruto began.

"I didn't mean to imply…" Shion hurried to explain her words.

"… to over a dozen women." that ended any attempt of Shion's to excuse a possible affront to his morals. "I won't endanger a mission just to cope a feel from you or get laid. I get enough of that at home already."

"What about that time with Koyuki-hime in the Land of Snow a year ago?" Karin gave him a smirk.

"I had to be in an Icha Icha movie with her. What would you have expected? That was pretty much my mission." Naruto rolled his eyes.

"We're not upset." Hinata assured him.

"I know. The _invitation_ you gave her when you thought I wasn't looking said that and more." Naruto deadpanned.

"So youthful!" Lee was crying tears of joy in his forearm at his friend's fortune.

"You were Mishi?" Shion in a small voice.

That brought her under the curious gazes of the entire team.

"So much for the innocence of shrine maidens." Naruto smirked as Shion blushed, her eyes bright in horror as she realized she had spoken out loud. "Don't worry, confidentiality is part of the mission, we won't spread the word across the Elemental Countries or anything."

"That don't mean we won't tease you a bit." Karin's smile was far too wide for Shion's comfort. "So, do you enjoy watching my husband naked?"

"Wait… you're…?" Shion looked at her in shock.

"I as well." Hinata's smile was just as wide.

"Time to go." Naruto said loudly. "Grab on."

"Wha…?" Shion began only to squeak as they group sank into shadows only to appear somewhere in the wilderness.

"Teleportation. I've never been to the Sealing Shrine so I can't take us there directly." Naruto explained. "Hinata, take point. I'll be behind you. Lee next and Karin last. Move out."

Without a complaint the team moved out according to their leader's instructions and after a few hours of monotonous and (mostly) silent run Shion had to admit that while it was nowhere near as comfortable as the carriages she usually moved about in when outside her village, it was still much better then being carried as a backpack on one of their backs.

Still, by the time it was just passed midnight, she could not hold back her complaints much regarding her comfort and, more importantly, hunger. She was rather surprised when Naruto seemed to pull a rich warm meal for them all out of nowhere, but her potential comments were permanently delayed as they all dug in, the three kinds of sensory techniques in use making sure they could relax for a short while.

The decision to camp there for the night was only a formality afterwards, with Lee taking first watch followed by Hinata, Karin and Naruto. The night was quiet; no disturbances… with the single exception of Shion waking rather abruptly soon after Naruto's shift had started. It did not take her long to wander off in his direction, finding him watching the pre-dawn sky at the edge of the cliff.

"Good morning, Shion." Naruto greeted her, without bothering to turn towards her.

"You are addressing me with far too much familiarity." the light blonde priestess remarked a bit coldly.

"Yeah, well, apparently I'm going to die soon so any complaints you'll make won't affect me." Naruto smirked.

"You still do not believe me, do you?" Shion sighed in annoyance as she took a seat next to him on a boulder. "I've made hundreds of predictions regarding people's deaths, and all of them, every last one, came true."

"Sigh… Look, this is getting on my nerves so let's make things a bit clear." Naruto muttered. "Do you see my funeral, or people carrying my corpse?"

"No, my visions don't work like that." Shion shook her head. "I only see how one dies, a few seconds before and a few after."

"And you say me pierced through the chest by… what exactly?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I… don't know for sure what it is." Shion said with a bit of embarrassment. "It looks like a dark purple tentacle of sorts."

"I see…" Naruto mussed and then nodded to himself after a few seconds of though before pulling out a kunai, startling Shion.

"What are you doing?" she demanded only for her eyes to widen in shock and horror as the blond teenager next to her ran through his left hand with the kunai in his right. **"Are you out of your mind?!"** she shrieked.

"Be silent and watch." Naruto said firmly as he pulled out the kunai and her the hand with a hole big enough to see the other side for her to see clearly.

Under the priestess's shocked gaze the wound quickly closed up leaving behind unblemished skin, which was just as clean as before once Naruto created a bit of water to wash off the blood.

"H-How?" Shion asked in shock.

"I'm demon." Naruto shrugged.

Shion _stared._

"I'm serious. I was born human, but I soon became the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Yoko and due to other influences and circumstances I became a demon as well a few years ago." Naruto explained.

"You… don't look like a demon to me?" Shion asked unsurely.

"I'm not that kind of demon. Demons come in all shapes and sizes. Since I was human to start with and had a lot of power, I was able to manipulate my transformation so that I remained pretty much the same, only… well superior to humans." Naruto shrugged.

"Demons are not superior to humans." Shion snapped at him.

"Not all of them, true, and it depends on what they're superior in." Naruto amended.

"…so you had no choice then become a demon?" Shion asked after a while.

"Well… it was not something planned, but I was aiming to achieve similar results, what with gaining several abilities of demonic origin." Naruto mussed. "I don't regret it, nor do I dislike my current form… to be honest, it's less about being a demon and more about NOT being human that I particularly enjoy."

"What do you mean?" Shion inquired.

"Do you know how most Jinchuriki are treated?" Naruto inquired, only to receive a shake of the head. "Most Biiju only got sealed in humans after bloody battles, where countless ninja got killed, whether it was a battle to capture the Biiju or if the Biiju escaped its former host. How do you think the people containing them are treated, when thousands hate the Biiju because they lost friends and family to them?"

"…Hate?" Shion inquired after some consideration.

"And then some." Naruto looked in the distance with a grim look. "I can't speak for all the Jinchuriki ever, but most of those I've know, myself included, were treated as lower then thrash, hated, rejected, with countless attempts at out lives. After all the suffering I went though because the didn't consider me 'human enough', can you really blame me for no longer wanting to even share the same race as them?"

"So… you hare all humans?" Shion asked softly, having quite a few unpleasant flashbacks of her own childhood, of her own loneliness and the rejection she suffered.

"No. I simply don't give a damn about humans in general. If it's someone I know is a decent person, friend of mine or not, I'm willing to lend a hand if need be. But for some ass who considers himself superior to others just because of who his parents were, or because he has some special ability he did not earn… well, the world is better off without them." Naruto's eyes were narrowed.

"So you hate me then… being born to be the priestess of Demon Country and…" Shion trailed off.

"Did you have a choice in the matter?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at her.

"Not really." Shion said with a shrug. "I mean, I was really happy when my mother was alive… but after that…" she sighed. "It started off small, not having as much freedom to move around. Then they limited what I was allowed to learn…"

"What do you mean?" Naruto looked at her with a frown.

"Oh, I can perform the _**Yashiro no Fūin**_ without issues, don't worry about that." Shion waved him off, mistaking his concern. "In fact, that's the _only_ technique I was allowed to learn."

"Odd…" Naruto mussed. "Tell me, what do you know about this Mōryō? Besides him being a demon and his sealing, I mean."

"Not much, I'm afraid. I was not allowed to look into it, but I remember something about the 'darkness of the human heart' being mentioned when referring to him." Shion thought carefully.

"Hm… not really surprising then." Naruto commented.

"What do you mean?" Shion looked at him questionably.

"My transformation into a demon involved the darkness inside me as well. It was based on it, actually." Naruto revealed. "I had to take measures to ensure I don't become some mindless monster when I changed."

"I guess Mōryō wasn't as lucky." Shion looked at him cautiously.

"Relax, everyone has darkness in their hearts." Naruto rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean there isn't light as well." he said as he conjured a sphere of light in his palm. If you want to remember something, remember this: nothing is pure in this world. There is no absolute good an evil, no black and white. There are only shades of grey. Some darker and some lighter."

"What about you?" Shion inquired.

"Right at the middle. I don't care much for either side. They have no hold over me. I do what I want, and whether people call it good or evil matters little to me." Naruto shrugged. "In a world like ours, morality is quite subjective."

"If you say so…" Shion said unsurely.

"I mean, what's the point of being alive if I'm not actually _living_, you know?" Naruto sighed as he got up. "Come on, I'll prepare breakfast for you before the others wake up."

The next couple of days were rather monotonous, what with them traveling most of the time, but eventually that came crashing down when they were running along a river and a humongous water dragon rose to attack them.

"Hinata, freeze it!" Naruto ordered with narrowed eyes.

"_**Crystallitatio Tellustris!"**_ the pale eyed girl called out moments after her pactio rings had appeared on her hands, causing the dragon to freeze solid with countless spikes erupting from it before it crashed down into the river. "Permission to deal with her?"

"Granted. Lee, back her up. Hinata, try to obtain some information. We don't need her alive." Naruto said quickly and the two were off.

Hinata moved so fast he form was blurred, with Lee right behind her. Before the orange haired water user could realize what was going on she had been blasted away from her bulky white haired companion by a _**Hakke Kūshō**_ and a couple seconds later she was… being splashed all over the tree she had impacted, as her body became water.

Hinata, who had landed in front of the spot quickly looked away with a frown, searching for the real body, and barely managed to dodge to high pressure water blade that cut down a few dozen trees.

"**You bitch! That hurt!"** the orange haired girl screamed as the water gathered into a solid form once more.

"A Hozuki?" Hinata asked in surprise.

"Don't compare me to those fools! This is the power my lord granted me!" the orange haired girl said proudly as a huge orb of water gathered above her. "Behold…"

"Too slow." Hinata said quietly as she appeared behind the orange haired girl grabbing her head as he eyes turned into the purplish grey with black concentric circles of the Rinnegan. Without another word she grasped her opponent's soul and ripped it out before closing her eyes as she assimilated the near two decades of knowledge. "Ugh, I still haven't gotten the hang of it."

And the cause was not only due to her lack of talent in mind and soul jutsu, which was still not her worst field, but also due to how inexperienced she was with the jutsu used and the Rinnegan as a whole.

After Naruto had gained the Rinnegan, they discovered that even after transplanting it through blood like with the other bloodlines the Fuhen had amassed not everyone could use it… at least at first.

After Naruto and the other Fuhen Jinchuriki and the Biiju, the three other Magia Erebea users – Negi, Chao and Evangeline – had awakened it along with the three girls of Uzumaki descent – Kushina, Karin and Tayuya. The former Senju and Uchiha, Tsunade and Mikoto respectively, followed a few months after. It was almost a year and a half later that Hinata, a former Hyuga, awakened it as well, and the others followed a year later.

The theory they had decided that was the most correct was that the Rinnegan had awakened in those who had been most compatible first and then awakened later as it adapted fully to the genetic code of the others. Naruto, the Jinchuriki and the Biiju gaining it off the bat was due to the obvious reason that the Rikudo Sennin gained her due to her tenants influence, and the current Jinchuriki and Biiju already had the genetic and energy background, only requiring a final push. Those of Uzumaki descent also had the right genes and due to Naruto's connection to them they gained the right energy imprint soon enough that they awakened it as well. The Magia Erebea users were in the opposite corner, having the right energy and incomplete genes, but it was settled just as well.

The former Senju and Uchiha were in similar positions as the Uzumaki, only with a less compatible genetic code which took some time to fully adapt, and the same for the former Hyuga heiress, only a longer time due to the Byakugan being further down the evolutionary line then the Sharingan. The other Fuhen took longer to awaken it to their 'incubation period' being longer, but in the end all members of the Fuhen Clan possessed the legendary Rinnegan… though only Naruto was able to combine it with the other dojutsu.

Shaking her head out of memories, Hinata hurried after the currently fleeing Naruto and Karin, the priestess now being in Karin's arms… before deciding it was a better idea to go help Lee as she noticed Naruto's Rinnegan activating.

Her intuition was proved correct as not only did the forest behind the fleeing blond explode, but the taijutsu specialist was in no condition to move on his own, both due to injuries and being drunk… the later reason prompting Hinata to sneak behind him and knock him out as soon as she confirmed that his opponent was indeed dead.

She did NOT want to deal with a Drunken Fist Lee. Mōryō taking over the world seemed preferable in comparison.

Ten minutes later she had caught up with Naruto and Karin who was still carrying Shion, at which point Naruto took over carrying Lee allowing her to take point.

By nightfall, the group had once again stopped to rest a bit, only this time it was only for a short while as the enemy was still on their trail.

"So, those snakes providing them with chakra originally came from Mōryō's human host." Naruto mussed at the information Hinata had obtained from her opponent. "And like we suspected, those things really are capable of enhancing or granting elemental chakra."

"They seem to be a lot like the unyouthful Curse Seals I heard of Orochimaru of the Sannin making." Lee provided. "My opponent transform his body, growing extra heads and limbs. No to mention rock armor."

"Hm, not really surprising." Naruto mussed. "The Curse Seals draw on natural energy and used the bit of youki in it to trigger the transformation via the special enzyme… these snakes seem similar."

"So, what should we do?" Karin inquired. "We're getting close to the Shrine of Sealing. It would be best to get rid of our pursuers before we get there, else they may disrupt the sealing ritual."

"Hm, alright, here's the plan." Naruto nodded to himself after a moment of thought. "I'll take Shion straight to the Shrine to avoid delays while you three get rid of our remaining pursuers. Hinata, I want you to deal with the medic nin, but try to not damage his body too much. I want to take a look at those chakra snakes if possible. The other one might as well be turned to paste for all I care. After that, I want you thee to follow after me and keep guard around the shrine to ensure the enemy won't get in and interrupt. Hinata, you're in charge. Any questions?"

Seeing no complaints, he got up and pick up Shion from where she had been eavesdropping.

"Good. Move out!" he ordered as he dashed away at a fast pace, but slow enough to not cause Shion any great discomfort.

By the time he had arrived in the vicinity of the Shrine, his sensory abilities had already told him that he was a bit late.

"What's the hold-up?" Shion demanded anxiously.

"See those lumps of dirt all over the place?" Naruto asked.

"Yes…?" Shion looked at him questionably.

"Those are some of Mōryō's moving stone soldiers hidden underneath." Naruto told her. "If we just walk through we'll get squashed."

"Weren't you bragging about…" Shion began.

"I wasn't bragging." Naruto cur her off. "I CAN take care of them all on my own. But now I'm NOT on my own; I need to make sure you not only get passed unharmed, but also perform the sealing ritual."

"So I'm in the way?" Shion scowled.

"Sorta, though personally I'm blaming the idiots in your village. I can sense you have a lot of chakra… as well as quite a bit of spiritual energy, Reiryoku." Naruto told her. "Had they given you even a bit of combat training, you could have mowed through those soldiers on your own. After all, you can have all the power in the world if you can't use it."

"Eh… thanks." Shion muttered. "So… what now?"

"Well, if we can't walk through them we'll just have to jump over." Naruto shrugged.

"…what?" the pale blonde priestess looked at him as if her grew another head.

"I have a technique that allows me to jump over long distances." Naruto explained as he gently placed her on her own feet. "I need you on my back so I can make sure I can protect us if they throw something at us."

"Alright." Shion nodded and a few seconds later her hands were wrapped around his neck and her legs around his waist.

"Okay, let's go!" Naruto smirked and without another world disappeared with a _**Shundou**_ appearing in mid air a few dozen feet away before creating a platform of Ki and pushing off performing a _**Koku Shundou**_ several times bypassing a good number of the now emerging stone soldiers.

However, just as he was performing another _**Koku Shundou**_ from beyond the edge of a cliff overlooking a river his blood run cold as he felt Shion letting go of him before he had completely moved. As soon as he arrived at his new location in the air he looked back in horror at the sight of Shion plummeting towards the sallow water beneath. Without as second of hesitation he used the _**Koku Shundou**_ to appear just beneath her and grabbed her tightly just in time to break her fall.

Less then a minute later a soaked Shion as gently being placed against a tree by an equally wet Naruto whose back was dripping with blood.

"Well, I suppose a short break is in order." he said quietly as he removed his black trench coat as well as his black shirt causing Shion to stare at him with a blush for a few moments before her look turned to one of horror and guilt at the sight of blood dripping off his clothes. "Mind giving me a hand with something?"

"Anything." Shion said quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

"It's alright, I forgive you as long as you tell me why you thought killing yourself is a good idea… and help remove the rocks still embedded in my back." Naruto sighed.

"Okay." Shion said quietly and after flinch at his severely wounded back she began to remove the shards of stone.

"So?" Naruto demanded.

"I… If I die, then I won't make any more predictions… and those I made won't come true." Shion admited.

"Didn't we establish that a mere stab through the chest won't kill me?" Naruto groaned.

"All the visions I ever received were of people dying. All of them. I don't know what those tentacles are made of. Acid, poison, I don't know, but it WILL kill you if it happens." Shion snapped.

"You're not the only person who had had visions of death." Naruto finally said after a while during which Shion pulled out all the stone shards.

"Eh?" she looked at him in surprise.

"I've already seem the moment of my death." Naruto admited. "I can't say whether it's really going to happen, or when considering I can change my age at will, but it won't be by being stabbed by a tentacle. But even so, like all prophecies it's only a potential future, not THE future. If the conditions for it at fulfilled, it will happen. If not, it's merely an image of another potential timeline. Nothing more."

"Alternate timeline?" Shion inquired as she watched Naruto go back in the water to wash off the blood.

"I'm talking about parallel worlds." Naruto explained. "Space and time don't exist in a straight line. Rather, it's like a tree, branching off with each possibility. What if one was born looking more like his mother then his father? What if the Shodaime Hokage never built Konoha? What if your mother never sealed away Mōryō? What if…?"

"I think I understand." Shion mussed.

"However, if there is one thing certain that I know, it that MY future is something only I can decide. My life and death will be according to my terms. That is absolute." Naruto said firmly and Shion could only look on in awe at the aura of power he was emanating. "And what I decided is that I will survive this without you dying in my place."

After a few more minutes of rest, Naruto gave her the new plan.

"Since the stone soldiers are awake, I will have to distract them while you perform the sealing." Naruto told her. "I will get to the entrance, and then you're on your own for a little while. Think you can last that long without trying to kill yourself?"

"I think I can manage." she blushed in embarrassment at the reminder of her blunder.

With Shion once more on his back, it only took a few _**Koku Shundou**_ to reach the entrance of the cave. Before Shion had even fully gotten off hid back, he was already unleashing his first spell _**"**__**Ignis Tempestas Obscurans!"**_ he called out and from his joined hands erupted a twister of fire and darkness carving a half a dozen meter wide lane through the army of stone soldiers. "`Go!" he urged her as he began forming a Rasengan in one hand.

"Good luck!" Shion called out over her shoulder as she dashed inside, and away from the bell-like screech origination from the sunny blond.

"_**Futon: Rasenshuriken!"**_ Naruto called out as he tossed the large greenish white orb encased in a white disk of four spinning blades of wind taking out few dozen soldiers. "Tsk, there's no end to them." He growled as he noticed that more and more stone soldiers were approaching. "Let's try a wide-area attack them." He decided and after a quick mental chant he called out _**"Λυσσασμένος Γη!"**_

From the enormous magic circle that appeared from his fist a humongous torrent of lava erupted, washing over the entire are, swallowing up hundreds of the stone soldiers before Naruto's other fist was raised, a magic circle of equal size but different design and colour appeared as he called out the appropriate incantation.

"_**Άτλας Βάρος!"**_ were the words uttered just before a hundred meter wide magic circle appeared above the reinforcements before they were crushed in an enormous crater under the extremely powerful gravity forced on them.

Leaving a few Kage Bunshin with decent enough chakra reserves to hold out a while Naruto dashed inside and as soon as he caught sight of Shion on her knees with tears leaking from her eyes he felt as if the floor had dropped from under him… which was _exactly_ what happened to the stone floor Shion was on, throwing her in the darkness bellow just as dozens, maybe even hundreds of dark purple tentacles shrouded in darkness erupted from all over the place, several taking the appearance of dragon heads with glowing crimson eyes.

"**Fuck!"** Naruto summed things up as he jumped away from tentacles aimed to impale him and began hacking away at them with a pure white _**Ensis Exsequens**_ from each hand.

Soon enough his Kage Bunshin were all over the place doing the same, and he was just about to blast away with a _**Shinra Tensei**_ a few tentacles about to skewer him when they were disintegrated by a wave of light… originating from a _very familiar_ safety bell embedded in his collar.

"When did…" Naruto began to mutter when he felt the previously powerful, if suppressed energy signature belonging to Shion begin to weaken as her power was being washed over the depths she had fallen in. "Shion, you idiot!" he cursed as he blasted away all the tentacles in a twenty meter radius before glowing silver chains erupted from his arms and were thrust into the hole Shion had fallen in, wrapped around the first solid thing that did not flinch away as if burned and the pulled back towards him, making a disheveled Shion hit Naruto's chest. **"Breathe!"** Naruto ordered, the power he was giving off alone keeping away further attacks as he remained levitating in the air. As Shion draw a deep breath he continued. **"Do you really want to die that badly? Do you want it all to end, just like that? What did you accomplish in your life? Are you ready to let it all go just like that?"** he demanded as both his eyes turned golden with black sclera with colored specs of light, the iris bearing three black circles with three black tomoe. **"If you want to achieve something, you have to take the fist step, Shion! Tell me, do you want to live?"**

"**Yes! I want to live!"** she yelled back in tears.

"**Then this thing needs to die!"** Naruto stated the obvious as he glared down at the emerging form of Mōryō. A pinkish-white light began to shine from the safety bell drawing Naruto's attention. "Well, this thing seems to have caused enough trouble as well." he decided as he took it in his hand. "Channel as much chakra you can in it. I'll take care of the rest." He told Shion who placed both hands above the bell which was soon enveloped in a large orb ob light. "Good enough." Naruto deemed as Shion removed her hands and he held it above himself he began adding his own power into the mix, making the orb almost five meters in diameter as it illuminated the entire cave with it's pinkish white glow. _**"Shinsei Senpō: Koton: Rasenjōkatsuki!"**_ he called out as he threw the orb of light at Mōryō's core before using the Hiraishin marker he had left outside where he had saved Shion from the fall to escape, just as the entire mountain exploded, smoke, lava, stone and ash filling the air as the landscape changed.

As he watched the sight from a distance from Shion's side, he didn't know whether to smirk or wince at the damage. He was about to ask Shion if she was alright when he noticed how tightly she was holding his arm… and the look in her eyes as she gazed at him… and that blush.

"_This seems oddly familiar."_ he inwardly gulped.

**A.N.: Mwahahahaha! I HAVE RETURNED!**

**Yes, it's been a very long while. I'm very sorry. I had intended to post this at the beginning of February, but several problems involving hackers, several viruses and a full hard drive formatting prevented that. On the other hand, this chapter ended up 3000 words longer then the initial one was.**

**I can't promise that the next one will follow too soon, it'll be at least three weeks. But it will be easier to write then this was. Not having a manga chapter to look over for inspiration and having to watch parts of the movie over and over was quite annoying.**

**At any rate, I truly hope you liked reading this. If so, please leave a review. Also, feel free to tell me about any misspellings as I currently lack a beta.**

**Translations:**

**Shinsei Senpō: Koton: Rasenjōkatsuki (Sacred Sage Art: Light Release: Spiralling Purifying Moon)**

**神聖仙法****: ****光遁****: ****螺旋浄化月**

**Λυσσασμένος Γη - Tearing Earth**

**Άτλας Βάρος ****(Burden of Atlas)**

**Ancient Greek****: **"Τό συμβόλαιον διακονητω μοί, Γαῖα και Οὐρανός! Έπιγενηθήτω, ατελείωτες βάρος, θεία τιμωρία! Ισιώστε όλη τη δημιουργία, την οργή σας απελευθερώσουν μετά τις ανόητες θνητούς! Άτλας Βάρος!"

**Transliteration: **"Tó symvólaion diakoni̱to̱ moí, Gaía kai Ouranós! Épigeni̱thí̱to̱, ateleío̱tes város, theía timo̱ría! Isió̱ste óli̱ ti̱ di̱miourgía, ti̱n orgí̱ sas apelef̱theró̱soun metá tis anói̱tes thni̱toús! Átlas Város!"

**English****: **"Heed the contract and serve me, Gaia and Uranus! Come, endless weight, divine punishment! Flatten all Creation, unleash your rage upon the foolish mortals! Burden of Atlas!"


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Negima or Naruto. Negima is the property of Ken Akamatsu, and Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

_Italics text = character thinking to themselves._

_Underline+Italics = character communicating with telepathy_

**Bold text = shouting**

_**Bold+Italcs = Casting Spell/Ability**_

**Chapter Two**

**Rescuing the Godaime Kazekage**

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze Fuhen. A person that was entirely NOT amused by his current _situation_.

Having grown up in such a way that only through great awareness of his surroundings could his health be assured, the blond had picked up at the very least a few tidbits of advice on pretty much every subject when it came to social norms. Sure, beyond what he could use to his favor he pretty much ignored it all, but there a few things that he had found important if one wanted to have a stable social life.

Such as advice concerning women.

He had learned enough to be considered a veritable Don Juan when he felt it necessary, he had leaned how to stay on the good side of the women in his life, no matter what relationship he had with them, he had learned all the tricks in the book when it came to appeasing them in the eventual inevitable event of him screwing up in some way…

And he was utterly confused by what was going on.

"_Where's the jealousy? The desire to keep their man to themselves? The suspicion to outsiders?"_ Naruto wondered as he watched Shion cheerfully chatting up his other fiancés.

In a chain of events that mostly went over his head, Shion had ended up in the care of his clan in order for her to learn how to be a proper priestess from Konoka as well as learning Fuinjutsu from himself and Kushina who were the current experts in the subject.

Of course, that was only the young priestess' excuse in order to get out of Demon Country and away from the guards and servants who were overprotective to the point of suffocation. To put it simply, the pale blond girl had had it with being treated like a delicate vase, kept on display and not allowed to do anything. As forgiving as she was of her mother's plot to keep her safe with the power of the Mystic Safety Bell, she was absolutely furious by the fact that she was treated her entire life as a flight risk, not allowed to learn anything that could be even remotely dangerous were she to turn against her people by merging with Moryo.

It was something Naruto could fully sympathize with, as he was set up pretty much the same concerning his ninja life, and would have probably ended up as some dunce were it not for Kyubi's interference and continuous motivation. Truth be told, had he not formed the Fuhen Clan and thus become responsible for the happiness and well being of all its members, he would have probably made himself scarce from Konoha years ago, most likely taking advantage of the distraction provided by the Oto Invasion, Will of Fire be damned.

Alas, even with his sympathy for Shion's situation, he still could not understand how his lovers, fiancées, brides to be, could be so accepting of more and more potential fiancées for him – and he could not begin to understand why they were encouraging it!

He mentally counted the women that he had gotten into serious relationships with, and could not help but rub his temples in confusion. First Hinata, them Kyubi, Evangeline and Asuna, then Anko and Haku, then Ino, then Yugito, Kin, Mana, Kaede and Fei, then Tayuya, Ichibi and Nibi, then Asakura and Chao, then Tsunade, Karin, Kushina and Mikoto, then Kurotsuchi and Temari, then Sextum, Yuna and Akira, then Yakumo and Tenten, and now Shion considering how things were going. Not to mention the relationships he had with Koyuki, Mei and Haruna, though in their cases it was closer to sex friends then a girlfriend-boyfriend relationship… which his fiancées were also encouraging as a means for him to become even more… ahem, _skilled_.

Therefore he was relieved when he was distracted from such matters by a summons from Tsunade, requesting his immediate presence at the Hokage Tower.

His relief was short lived.

"What do you mean Gaara was kidnapped by the Akatsuki?" Naruto demanded in shock. "He's the Kazekage, damn it! What did the Akatsuki do? Drop by Sunagakure and simply take him?"

"Er… that pretty much sums things up." Tsunade admitted as she glanced at the decoded message.

"What the hell were the Suna nin doing?" Tayuya demanded perplexed. "Sit around like at the fucking movies?"

"From the little this message says, the only people injured or killed were sentries so we can assume only Gaara actually engaged the enemy." Tsunade shrugged.

"I take it we're the aid you'll be sending?" Kakashi inquired as he motioned at himself, Naruto, Tayuya, Karin and Ku Fei.

"Yes, I want you to head to Suna pronto and then help track down Gaara." Tsunade nodded. "Your standing orders are to recover the Kazekage and eliminate his kidnappers as well as any Akatsuki members you encounter. Capture them if it appears the chances of success seem high enough, but otherwise I want their heads and rings. It's' been years since we've gotten any insightful information on them though."

"Not that I don't have confidence in this team, because I do, really, but I have some doubts if we are to face more then four Akatsuki members. As good as the five of us are, the Akatsuki ARE S-rank missing-nin." Kakashi pointed out.

"Temari left earlier this morning for a diplomatic mission towards Suna, so you will be meeting up with her." Tsunade informed them. "Also, Suna will no doubt want to have their own representatives in the rescue team."

"That does not really boost my confidence." Kakashi muttered. "Since the search for the Sandaime Kazekage after his disappearance, Suna has been rather hesitant in parting with troops while their Kage is away."

"Be that as it may, we can't afford to send too many of our ninja either." Tsunade frowned. "Oto has been acting up again lately, and this would be a prime time to start a major conflict. If the situation looks hopeless, you have permission to retreat even if it means leaving behind the Kazekage. As much as I sympathize with Gaara, if his own village isn't willing to stand up for him, then it would be no use for us to do so."

"Very well." Kakashi sighed.

"Kakashi, you're in charge of this mission." Tsunade decided.

"I agree. I admit that I may loose my temper considering that I'm a target for Akatsuki as well." Naruto confessed.

"Yeah, shithead might just go demon on them and destroy half of Wind Country." Tayuya quipped.

"One time! I make ONE large crater and people think you as a **W**alking person of **M**ass **D**estruction." Naruto sulked.

"We would be more tolerant of that crater didn't use to be a portion of Fire Country." Tsunade rolled her eyes. "At any rate, time is of the essence. GO."

With that the group bolted away at high speed, only stopped at the gate to present their mission scroll.

"Damn it Naruto, slow down a bit." Kakashi called out to the blue eyed blond. "While we may be in a hurry, I won't be of any good to you if you keep up this speed. I might have improved my stamina significantly in the past couple years, but I still am no match for you. And while the girls are faring better, they aren't up to your level either."

"I know. Sorry, Kakashi." Naruto grunted as he reduced the force of his tree hopping. "It's just that I'm really pissed, you know."

"Look, I know you're upset over Gaara getting kidnapped…"

"That too. But what are really irking me right now are politics." Naruto growled.

"Politics?" Kakashi blinked, not understanding what he meant.

"Me thinks Naruto-kun means that Gaara is not even a demon vessel anymore, aru." Ku Fei imputed with a pout.

"And if we didn't need to keep it secret in order to reduce Akatsuki's focus on Konoha even slightly as well protect Ichibi-chan's identity, Gaara would still be safe and sound in his office doing paperwork." Karin added.

"Yeah, it would suck for Akatsuki to know that there are four Biiju walking around outside their hosts. After all, that fuckard Madara needs the Biiju, not the youki batteries you've left in the former Jinchuriki." Tayuya nodded.

"Oh, if you put it that way…" Kakashi trailed off.

"Well, there's that too." Naruto admitted. "Though at the moment I'm just pissed that the Suna council decided to get rid of the Hiraishin markers I left there. With the way my Elemental Teleportation works now, harming whatever passengers I take with me, that's the only method of instant travel I have left."

"Yeah, it would be great to just Hiraishin there. The sensation may still be unpleasant, but it still beats being mangled like Anya was that time." Kakashi was a little green at the gills when remembering Anya's state after the relatively short trip she had decided to hitch with Naruto. "Thank Kami she's a Biiju else she would be maimed for life."

"Actually, with our current level of regeneration, all of out clan members would recover within a day from pretty much any physical damage short of death." Karin pushed her glassed up her nose causing them to glint ominously. "We hypothesized that portions of Naruto's Time Magic seal pattern are affecting our regeneration, pushing our bodies to return to a state prior to the damage…"

"Fascinating." Kakashi mussed as he pushed off a larger branch more forcefully then before, leaving Karin in the dust.

"Can it, nympho-nerd. Nobody cares about the details." Tayuya rolled her eyes as she picked up the pace a bit as well.

"What was that, you foul mouthed human vibrator?" Karin shouted back.

They kept the same pace for several hours, until they arrived at a small inn where Naruto expected Temari to be, having instructed her to meet up with them there via the pactio telepathy. They had barely begun looking around when a streak of black and yellow pounced on Naruto, hugging him tightly.

"I know, Temari, I know." Naruto rubbed her back as he tried to calm her down.

"Why? Why is it always Gaara that gets the short end of the stick?" Temari sobbed. "First having that insane Shukaku Ichibi shoved into him before he was even born, with a faulty seal no less, then all the hatred and assassination attempts from our own father, and now being hunted down like an animal… why can't I shoulder some of his pain, damn it! I'm supposed to be his big sister, and I haven't done anything to help!"

"It'll be okay, Temari, we're going to rescue Gaara. We're going to bring him back to Suna and bring him back to health. And we're going to make the Akatsuki regret even considering to be born into the same world as us." Naruto promised, fully intent on consuming the souls of the Akatsuki members involved or, if not feasible, remove them from existence with a Chaos Element Spell.

"And if he's dead, we'll just recover his body and have Naruto resurrect him." Tayuya shrugged. "It's not like **he**'ll get eaten by the Shinigami, unlike other people." she glanced at Naruto and Ku Fei.

"Well, as much as I hate to ruin the moment, we need to go." Kakashi advised and a few seconds later they were off.

_Timeskip – over two days – Suna  
_

"They got Kankuro as well?" Temari demanded as the group hurried towards the Suna Hospital.

"Yes. From what I understand, it's a very potent poison that we have yet to find an antidote for. He doesn't have much time left." the chunin guiding them said quite uncomfortably.

"Let me have a look at him. Even if I can't heal him completely, I'm pretty sure I can at least give him more time." Karin said with a professional look in her eyes as she entered he all business, healer persona.

"Konoka's artifact might still have some effect, even if it's been almost three days." Naruto added.

As the group reached Kankuro's hospital room they were forced to stop when an old lady, who looked even beyond the Sandaime's age, attacked Kakashi as soon as she caught sight of him.

"Curse you!" she shouted. "Prepare to die, White Fang of Kono….!" she managed to say.

"Now then…" Naruto stated calmly "Care to repeat that old hag?" he inquired as he held her a few feet above the ground, tied up from neck down in golden chakra chains.

"You're the Kyubi's…" he eyes widened.

"Yes. I would say that it's good to see you, but with you attacking _Kakashi_ Hatake, my current team leader, I would be lying." Naruto said crispy.

"Kakashi…" Chiyo blinked a few times as she looked at the _son_ of the White Fang inquisitively.

"Take a closer look Nee-chan." Ebizou pointed out. "He does resemble the White Fang, but that's not him. Besides, Konoha's White Fang died a long time ago." he reminded her while Kakashi waved nervously.

"Just kidding!" Chiyo suddenly smiled. "I was just pretending to be senile!"

"Well, you seemed far more authentic then the real thing." Naruto said sarcastically as eh dropped her. "How's it going, Karin?"

"At this rate, he'll die within the hour." Karin replied as she carefully used her diagnosis jutsu on Kankuro's chest. "I could easily make an antidote, but it will take more time then he has. His heart muscles are being destroyed as we speak."

"When did she…" one of the Suna medic-nin mumbled as they looked at her in shock.

"While you were distracted by the old doll maker." Karin muttered.

"What can be done?" Naruto inquired.

"I'll extract as much poison I can to stop his body from being damaged further. After that, I hand heal him enough to last until the antidote is ready." Karin replied as she created a basin and then a greenish liquid in it. "Naruto, chain him to the operation table. This extraction method will be rather painful and cause him to have muscle spasms and I'll need him still if I don't want to overlook anything important." she requested.

"Gotcha." Naruto replied and a moment later Kankuro's limbs, waits and shoulders were chained to the table by the same chakra chains that had captured Chiyo.

"Everyone else should back off, I'll need space." Karin instructed while creating a huge empty basin next to her. With that she placed her left hand on the liquid in the smaller basin and took control over it with her chakra, taking it out in the form of a bubble-like glob.

Carefully, he she did a few incisions with her free hand before forcing the liquid into Kankuro's now violently twitching body and then drawing it out with her other hand, the liquid now containing sickly purple strands within it.

"That's the poison, huh?" Naruto mussed. "Here, put that sample in this." He offered her a newly created bottle.

"Thanks. This sample will likely be the most concentrated one." Karin said as she manipulated the poison with her chakra to leave the green blob and enter the offered bottle, which she caped while discarding the blob in the large empty basin.

"What kind is it?" Naruto inquired as he created more of the green liquid in the smaller basin, having scanned and made a mindscape copy of it beforehand.

"The main component is _Ricinus communi_, though there is a bit of _Aconite_ in it as well." Karin informed him before focusing all her attention on the poison extraction.

Twenty-two green blobs later, she declared herself satisfied while declaring Kankuro out of the danger zone as she left Naruto to heal his muscles a bit while she made the antidote. A quick wave of Konoka's artifact fans and the level of poison in Kankuro's system dropped further while his muscles mended themselves to and extent.

It took Karin roughly three hours to brew the antidote which was soon enough administered to a conscious Kankuro who was less pleased by the taste.

"It's made to keep you alive, not serve as desert." Karin told him blithely.

"You remind me of that slug girl." Chiyo mussed out loud.

"Well, Tsunade was the one who oversaw my medic-nin training." Karin admited sheepishly.

"So your people not only did squat while Gaara was fighting to keep Suna from becoming a giant hole in the ground, you don't even have any idea which way the Akatsuki escaped, never mind what their destination is!" Naruto loud and annoyed growl drew everyone's attention to where the blond was glaring at the Suna jounin overseeing things, Isago, while Kakashi was sighing in the background. "Do you people intend to do anything at all to recover your Kage?"

"**What do you think I've been doing?"** Kankuro shouted annoyed from across the room.

"From what I understand, you actually had to ignore orders to go after Gaara." Naruto pointed out. "What is Suna going to do about it though?"

"Before anyone can do anything, we need to know where they're taking Gaara." Kakashi cut in.

"If you need to track Gaara, you can follow the trail of the sand composing his Sand Armor like I did… though it has likely faded somewhat over the last few days." Kankuro began. "But I managed to get a bit of Sasori's mask…" he trailed off, looking significantly at Kakashi.

"Understood." the known dog summoner ran through the required handsigns while Kankuro retrieved the piece of cloth from the remains of his puppets that had been stared in a corner of the room.

"Yo, Kakashi!" Pakun greeted as he and the rest of the pack appeared in a puff of smoke.

"I need you to track down this scent as quickly as possible." Kakashi ordered. "It belongs to Sasori of the Red Sand, a member of Akatsuki who recently assisted Deidara the Terrorist Bomber in abducting the Godaime Kazekage, Gaara Sabaku."

"Gotcha. We're on it!" Pakun said after taking a good sniff before the entire pack ran off.

_Timeskip – Next Day around lunch_

"I can't believe this." Temari growled lowly the team that had prepared to assist them was reassigned to border duty.

"Temari, you are to…" Isago began.

"Read my forehead protector, I'm a Konoha kunoichi. I'll go where I damn well want." The blond sister of Gaara snapped at him with a healthy dose of killing intent.

"Um… yes." Isago mumbled and backed away.

"So Suna won't move a finger to save their Kage." Naruto remarked sarcastically. "What a surprise!"

"If you need a Suna nin, I'll do just fine." a familiar voice was heard and a second later Chiyo landed in a crouch next to the group after jumping off a high building.

"Chiyo-sama, you can't…" Isago began wide-eyed.

"I'm retired. I can go wherever I want." Chiyo smirked.

"Alright, let's move out." Kakashi ordered and led the way, with Naruto, Fei, Tayuya, Karin, Temari and Chiyo following.

"Hm, this is where Kankuro fought Sasori." Kakashi mussed as the group momentarily stopped.

"Hey, hold on, everyone, I need to give you all a few of these." Karin called out and began to pass five medical shots filled with a yellow liquid to each member of the party. "There are shots of the antidote to Sasori's poison. One shot will cure any recently injected poison as well as grant three minutes of immunity to the poison. I'm only giving you five not because I couldn't have made more, because I did, but because more then five shots will be toxic to your bodies and do more harm then good." she said out loud before adding telepathically to her clan members _"Well, toxic for Kakashi and the old hag. Us, one shot and our bodies will develop immunity to the poison itself. Use one of the doses when out of sight and have either me or Naruto make a replacement for it."_

"Good work, Karin." Kakashi nodded as he stored away his shots. "Now then, let's move."

_Timeskip – Two days later_

"_I take it back, we should have left without any Suna reinforcements. The old lady is slowing is down."_ Naruto mentally groaned.

Indeed, while it was still a jounin-level speed, it was just barely that, as they had to slow down so that Chiyo could keep up.

"_Still, she's still the best we could have gotten for this, even with the delay. She trained and raised Sasori – nobody else knows more about how he fights and his tricks then her."_ The blond demon conceded.

The group had just recently entered River country where the Akatsuki base was and were about to stop for a short break when they saw the end of the tree line and what – or rather who – was waiting beyond it.

"Ah, the welcoming committee!" Naruto smirked. "Really, Roachy-chan, you shouldn't have!"

"Kukukuku! Still the same as I last saw you, Naruto-kun." Orochimaru in Akatsuki garb smirked maliciously. "However, you will find that this won't be like last time. This time I'm not crippled, nor do you have my two former teammates to hide behind."

"Hm, since you're not singing soprano, I take it Uke-chan was not delivered on time?" Tayuya smiled sweetly, her smile becoming a wide smirk at the Snake Sannin's snarl.

"Oh, struck a nerve, has she?" Karin grinned.

"Pedo-snake mad when he lost his lollipop." Ku Fei mussed with a wide grin, earning snickers not only from the rescue team, but from the other Akatsuki member present as well.

"You find this funny, Hidan?" Orochimaru growled.

"Funny? It's fucking hilarious!" the silver haired Jashinist guffawed.

"They seem to know you well, Orochimaru." Kakuzu remarked, and while most of his face was hidden one could recognize the amusement in his voice.

"Enough!" the final Akatsuki member present called out. "Regardless of Orochimaru's questionable preferences…" her lip twitched at the look on the Snake Sannin's face "We have a goal to accomplish."

"Oh? How surprising… I did not expect Pain to leave you out of his sight… Konan." Naruto's blue eyes locked on her orange ones, before his flashed black with a seven cornered golden star causing her eyes to widen in shock and make he lose her composure.

"Y-You!" Konan exclaimed. "But… How?"

"Tell me, does the crazy fool still play with corpses? How many does he have now, hm? Five, six?" Naruto pressed on. "I doubt he would be as foolish to stretch himself to seven, no matter how deluded he is."

"Enough! I will not allow you to badmouth Pain!" Konan shot back angrily. "He is…"

"Another fool with a God complex." Naruto cut her off. "He's not even close to the Rikudo Sennin's level, and even she was not a true God even if she came close."

"…She?" Konan blinked.

"Oh? You didn't know that the founder of the current world was a woman?" Naruto smiled. "Not surprising, really. After all, even if Nagato found out he would deny it. After all, he can chose what is right or not since he's a God." he finished sarcastically… just a fireball seemed to teleport to Orochimaru's position.

"Dibs on the snake fondler!" Tayuya called out.

"I'll take the hot chick." Naruto added as he dodged a flurry of paper shuriken.

"What else is new?" Karin rolled her eyes.

"I'll take priest-boy." Ku called out… after she had just blasted away Hidan with her enlarged and lengthening staff.

"Then…" Kakashi paused as four masked black thread beasts erupted from Kakuzu's back. "Me, Chiyo, Karin and Temari will take Kakuzu and his friends."

"Sounds good to me!" Naruto smiled as his right eye changed into the Rinnegan much to Konan's shock. _**"Shinra Tensei!"**_ he called out, blasting her away and then running after her.

"How?" Konan demanded furiously. "How do you have…?"

"The Rinnegan?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Why the shock? Is it that surprising that I have the same bloodline as my cousin?"

"Cousin?" Konan asked as she dodged a volley of shuriken which exploded as soon as they hit the ground.

"Oh? You don't know? Nagato's family name is Uzumaki. Just like my mother, his parents were refugees from the Land of Whirlpools after Uzushio was destroyed. Though I suppose his parents left a few years before that, now that I think about it, hm…" Naruto mussed. "No matter, he has the blood, he has the hair and he has the advanced bloodline. He's an Uzumaki alright."

"If he's family, then why do you oppose him?" Konan demanded.

"Because of psychotic bastard who will destroy the world if left unchecked." Naruto shot back. "Peace? HA! All his plans will accomplish was start another Great Shinobi Warm, this time with more casualties then all three before it combined. This is what the future holds if he isn't put down. True peace cannot be achieved through war. It can only be achieved through understanding."

"That's just wishful thinking!" Konan called back as she barraged him with bird shaped explosive notes.

"Is it?" Naruto demanded. "In the past three years or so, I've personally helped forge a lasting peace between Konoha, Iwa, Kumo, Suna, Kiri and their respective allies! That's pretty much most of the known world! What has Akatsuki done, huh? Attack Suna and almost kill everyone in the village when that psychotic little shit, Deidara, dropped one of his most powerful bombs on the village, that's what Akatsuki accomplish! Akatsuki is not promoting peace – it's promoting WAR! The war is going just fine now without the Akatsuki. Your terrorist group is neither wanted nor needed for peace!"

"That's not true!" Konan shot back. "What about Ame?"

"What about Ame?" Naruto retorted.

"Why can't Ame also have peace? Why should Ame suffer…" Konan began a fiery rant.

"Because Ame is the base of Akatsuki." Naruto cut her off coldly. "If it was the same Akatsuki Yakiho led, who were fighting for freedom, we would have welcomed that Akatsuki and an Ame under their command with open arms. But this Akatsuki? Abominations like Orochimaru, Hidan, Sasori, Kakuzu and Pain who use people as disposable tools just because they can. And I mean literally tools, not in the way shinobi villages use shinobi but the way shinobi use their kunai! No, with Ame backing up Akatsuki, you can sooner expect Ame to be wiped off the map then be received by the rest of the world."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Konan demanded rather desperately.

Before he answered Naruto summoned the Ensis Exorcizans and stabbed it into a certain point into the ground, before ripping it out with a that looked like the White half of Zetsu attached.

"Didn't I kill this guy already?" Naruto wondered out loud before tossing the body away and turning her attention to Konan who was looking on in shock. "If you want Ame to be part of a peaceful world, them Akatsuki and most of its members need to go. Especially you leaders. Yes, not just Nagato. That Madara-wanabe as well."

"You can't possibly expect me to betray Nagato!" Konan exclaimed as she send hundreds of exploding paper shuriken at him, only for them to be blocked at a wave of his hand.

"I expect you to put down a very mentally sick man." Naruto shock his head. "Your friend, Nagato, died along with Yahiko. All that's left is Tobi's puppet, Pain."

"You…" Konan began, only to choke and spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Think on it, Konan. I don't want to have to kill you as well next time we meet." Naruto said from behind her, the fully transformed Tessaiga piercing her chest and stomach at the same time.

"Y-You knew…"

"Orochimaru used the Shōten no jutsu before. You can't afford to come here in person to delay us when you have to be present for the extraction." Naruto explained.

"You're…good… Naru… to…Fuhen…."

With that another person clad in Akatsuki garb was left impaled on the Tessaiga, which was quickly dismissed and the body sealed away in a scroll. Naruto quickly rejoined the group just in time to see them dispose of Kakuzu's main body which turned out to be a doppelganger as well.

"Konan was the same." Naruto informed them.

"Orochimaru too." Tayuya added.

"I'm not sure. They all look the same when squashed like that." Ku Fei admitted sheepishly.

"I'm pretty sure it's the same." Kakashi sighed. "It was just a delay tactic."

"Then the extraction has begun." Chiyo concluded darkly.

"Let's find a place to set up camp and rest up. As much as I want to hurry, these guys are not to be taken lightly. Even these weaker copies were extremely dangerous. The real one should be several times more powerful." Kakashi instructed.

_Timeskip – That Night_

"What's keeping you up?" Naruto asked without preamble as he sat down next to Chiyo by the fire. "I though retired old people simply dumped their worries on the bastards unfortunate enough to succeed them." he remarked, thinking on how the Sandaime had buried Tsunade in all of the things he had not managed to accomplish before she took the hat.

"…I was the one that sealed the Ichibi no Shukaku into Gaara." Chiyo confessed flatly.

"Was that supposed to be news to me?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at her.

"For a brat, you know far more then you should about the secrets of foreign villages." Chiyo grumbled in annoyance.

"…You do realize that Gaara is my brother-in-law and that I was the one that fixed his seal so that he may sleep at night… right?" Naruto snorted.

"How did you do that by the way?" Chiyo inquired curiously.

"Replaced the old seal with a better one." Naruto shrugged nonchalantly. It was not like she needed to know the details.

"And you expect me to believe that the Shukaku remained within Gaara willingly? I know that the old seal had to have been completely removed in order to place a new one." Chiyo looked at him disbelievingly.

In response Naruto tapped the ground before him and a small tree grew in seconds from the spot.

"M-Mokuton!" Chiyo starred in shock at the tree. "You have the Shodaime Hokage's Mokuton bloodline!"

"And many others." Naruto shrugged. "I don't know why you're so surprised. Multiple bloodlines are what the Fuhen are best known for, after all."

"I don't know about that." Chiyo grumbled. "I'm pretty sure you're more known for threatening to let the Kyubi loose on Suna, for threatening to turn Iwa into a hole in the ground by pointing at it, and let's not forget about killing the over a third and incapacitating just as many of Kiri's forces during the last battle of the bloodline purges, not to mention taking on the Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura, by yourself, and defeating him in his full Sanbi form without using any of your Biiju's power."

"Good times." Naruto nodded with a wide smile.

"Anyway…" Chiyo rolled her eyes "I was just thinking… I've lived long and seen many things. I've even learned some of the way of the world itself." she spoke slowly, not noticing how Naruto's eyes had narrowed at that statement. "And when I learned that alliances with other countries were just in name… I worked up a way to protect Suna… Sealing Shukaku into Gaara… I did it to protect the village, but the result was that it caused hardship for the village. And without trusting alliances, a village we avoided, a village we betrayed… I currently trying to save us."

Naruto remained silent, knowing that it was best to let her tell him everything she wanted to before giving any sort of advice or accusation.

"What I did… was possibly entirely mistaken… Furthermore, I've gotten senile, to the point I give up easily." she sighed before smiling wryly "You know, Fuhen, I'm really envious of youth… it's something that holds such possibilities…"

"Funny, the Sandaime Tsuchikage said the same thing… though I'm pretty sure he was referring to being able to bend down without his back creaking like hell." Naruto deadpanned before sharing an amused chuckle with Chiyo. "Still…" Naruto closed his eyes with a smile "If you want advice the best I can give you is something that I once head the Sandaime Hokage say."

"Oh? What wisdom do you bring from the Professor, hm?" Chiyo inquired.

"He said… that the job of the old generation is to help the new one, to set a good example for them. Apparently, it's something Jiraiya agrees with as well. Something about making them old guys look cool, I guess." Naruto smiled.

"A good example, heh?" Chiyo mussed quietly as she stared into the camp fire. "I guess there might be something left for me to do… something…"

At that point, Naruto took his leave and woke Kakashi and Ku Fei to take the next watch.

Less then five hours later, the rescue team was landing before a crimson torii that stood a few meters in front of a boulder, almost twice as wide as the torri. On the boulder was a seal tag bearing the kanji for 'forbidden'… which ironically made it rather easy to locate the hidden cavern as while the chakra signatures inside were muffed to blend with nature, the chakra of the seal tag stood out enough.

"_**Gofū Kekkai."**_ Chiyo spoke after a couple of seconds of looking at the seal tag.

"We need to remove this tag at the same time the other four scattered around otherwise the barrier won't open." Kakashi mussed.

"Would the Akatsuki really risk getting themselves trapped in there?" Ku asked doubtfully.

"I'm sure this is not the only entrance. Groups like theirs have backups for such simple things." Kakashi replied "Naruto, can you…" he stopped and tensed as he noticed the looks on Naruto, Temari and Karin's faces.

"Gaara is dead." Naruto said tonelessly.

"He's been dead for at least and hour." Karin added in the same emotionless tone.

"… I'm fighting Deidara." Temari said in a dead tone. "I don't mind backup, but I want first shot at the bastard who kidnapped my brother."

"There only three people in there. Sasori, Deidara and Gaara." Naruto said darkly. "Deidara's left arm is slightly crushed, but he can still use it effectively. He must have distracted Gaara before he could rip it off."

"Sigh… well then, before we can engage them we need to get through this barrier." Kakashi began.

"I have is covered." Naruto cut him off.

"Kage Bunshin?" Kakashi inquired before shrugging, not waiting for a reply. "Alright the. Since Deidara is injured as likely not at full chakra capacity, Naruto, Temari and I will handle him. Karin, Tayuya, Ku. You three are to follow Chiyo's lead unless you see a good opportunity to end it. She knows more about Sasori's fighting style then anyone else alive so she'll be able to anticipate his moves to an extent."

"Understood." was the unanimous reply.

"So, how are you getting us in, boy?" Chiyo looked at Naruto in askance. "I take it you have something else in mind besides sending Kage Bunshin to the other seal tags."

"Here's something I learned when I was younger." Naruto said out lout after giving telepathic instructions to Karin, Ku Fei and Tayuya. "It doesn't matter how sturdy a door is when the walls that hold it are shabby."

With that Ku Fei was at the right of the boulder, Karin at the left, and Tayuya had leapt to reach above.

"_**Bakuretsu Sunkei!"**_ Fei called out as the stone before her exploded inwards.

"_**Kaihen-ken!"**_ Tayuya declared as the stone above the barrier was reduced to dust.

"**Shatter!"** Karin roared as she smashed her chakra enhanced fist into the wall, blasting it away.

The group took a moment to take in the image of the barrier-boulder surrounded by a few dozen meters of open space before the group moved in with a buttonhook entry, facing the two S-rank missing-nin responsible for the Kazekage's kidnapping and death.

"So…" Deidara began with a smug smirk "Which one of you is the Kyubi Jinchuriki, hm?" he inquired as his eye scope took them in.

"Really? That's the first think you thought of saying?" Karin's eye twitched.

"Kurotsuchi was right: he's an idiot." Tayuya added.

"Oi, don't got talking about that weak bitch, hm!" Deidara's smirk was replaced by sneer.

"Weak? Compared to the little shit that only gained recognition by mutilating himself? That's a laugh." Naruto snorted.

"He's the Jinchuriki." Sasori spoke up before Deidara could open his mouth. "The Yondaime Hokage's son."

"Gee, looks like we found out who's the brains of this pair." Karin smirked.

"Now, now, we can't use our usual expectations for some wannabe artists like them." Naruto said sagely. "I mean, after all, they're just… well, ninja. Nothing more."

"What was that?" Sasori snarled.

"You little…" Deidara began.

"_**Chidori Nagashi."**_ Naruto rolled his eyes as lightning rolled off his body and into the ground all around the rescue team before fading away just as with a wave of her hand Temari shredded a few white clay birds that had tried to sneak up on them. "Is that it, or should we come by later so you can put together a decent trap?"

"How did he…?" Deidara grunted.

"He's a Fuhen…their clan is notorious for having gained all sorts of bloodlines." Sasori stated. "I would be surprised if they didn't have at least one Dojutsu."

"You got that right, doll-boy." Naruto smirked as he activated his Sharingan for them to see.

"Tsk!" Deidara closed his real eye. "Fucking Uchiha…"

"Speaking of Uchiha…" Ku Fei smirked.

"Itachi sends his love." Tayuya grinned. "And is asking if the other Akatsuki members are still taking turns fucking you up the ass… what with him no longer being around to make you forget afterwards."

"**You bitch!"** Deidara snarled.

"Stick to the plan." Sasori grunted, ignoring the glare his partner threw at him.

"He's not denying it, you notice." Naruto pointed out.

With a snarl, Deidara threw a small clay bird which instantly enlarged and ate Gaara's body before the rescue team could do more then gape at them.

"What the fuck are you doing with my brother?" Temari snapped.

"Oh, he's just carrying it for me… till I have time to cut it open and play with it." Sasori said nonchalantly.

"Great, another necrophil." Naruto mumbled.

"Like the old Snake fondler wasn't enough." Tayuya spat.

Deidara took the opportunity and flew away on the bird through the huge space the team had created around the barrier, with Kakashi, Temari and Naruto following.

"Now then, grandma Chiyo, it's time to add you to my collection. With you and the Jinchuriki, I will have exactly 300 pieces." Sasori informed them as his long segmented tail emerged from under the Akatsuki garb.

"Are you included in that number?" Karin inquired as her Gokei Byakugan gazed within the Hiroko puppet.

"…I see Konoha is _very_ well informed." Sasori remarked. "No, I'm afraid that I had to replace my body parts piece by piece, and as such it was impractical to made a Human Puppet out of my former mortal body."

"What, you think yourself immortal now?" Tayuya demanded.

"What remains human of you will wither away eventually… or would have, considering you will die today." Karin corrected herself.

"You're quite cocky, Konoha brat." Sasori said as the tail darted at Karin, poised to stab her in the gut… only for a resounding smack to be heard as Karin backhanded the tail away without even a glance.

"The tail is poisoned, just like all his other weapons, most likely." Karin informed her group.

"Of course, after all…" Sasori began with a scoff only to pause when a heel drop from Tayuya disintegrated most of the tail and the hard stone under it, leaving the foul mouthed red head ankle-deep in dust in a rather large crater.

"One less thing to worry about." Tayuya smirked.

"That… is an interesting ability." Sasori said slowly, watching Tayuya like a hawk, with far more interest then he had showed in the entire exchange. "It wasn't a chakra-enhanced blow like the other girl did… some kind of elemental manipulation? Wind perhaps? But to have turned it into dust…"

"It's called Yuriton (Vibration Release), senbon-dick!" Tayuya declared as she leapt back into position.

"A new bloodline?" Sasori asked with glee evident even in his mostly emotionless voice. "You Fuhen will truly be the jewel of my collection…"

That was all the Suna missing-nin managed to say before the greatly extended and enlarged form of the **Shinchintetsu Jizaikon** wielded by Ku Fei squashed the Hiroko puppet, but not soon enough as from within the rubble a smaller figure darted away.

"You are boring, aru. I want to kill him quick so we can catch up with Naruto." Ku demanded.

"Then I will cut to the chase." Sasori decided as he revealed his puppet face which had been modeled after his original body. "Though I admit it's surprising to see a monkey summon in your hands."

"Monkey? You blind, aru, this is a staff." Ku blinked.

"No matter." Sasori pulled out a scroll and with a puff of smoke another puppet appeared. One that looked familiar to some of them

"The Sandaime Kazekage… so it _was_ you." Chiyo shook her head in disgust. "You have been involved in the death of five Kazekage. I'm ashamed of you."

"My heart bleeds..." Sasori shot back. "And I was not involved in the Yondaime's death, that as just one of my spies working for Orochimaru."

"So Kabuto Yakushi is your spy then." Ku Fei spoke. "Good to know, aru."

"Enough talk. I've waited enough to kill you. I hate waiting." Sasori hissed as a large volume of iron sand flowed from inside the Sandaime Kazekage's puppet body, spreading all around Sasori like a fine black mist. _**"Satetsu Shigure."**_ he declared as hundreds projectiles of iron sand formed all over the place and shot towards the rescue team.

"_**Kekkai: Hansha-kyū!"**_ Karin called out as she slapped her hands together and a transparent yellowish sphere formed around her and Ku, the iron sand projectiles splashing over the surface of the barrier like bugs on a windshield.

"_**Yuriton: Hōkai no Parusu!"**_ Tayuya shouted as she thrust her left palm forward unleashing as wave of vibrating chakra that blasted away the projectiles in even smaller iron particles then they were before, and at the same time protecting Chiyo as well.

"Hm, you have interesting jutsu." Sasori mussed as all the iron sand moved this time "But how much can your defences stand? _**Satetsu Kesshū**_." He declared as several pyramids, cubes and other shapes of compressed high-density iron sand that had formed around him were sent at high speed towards the group, causing them to dodge like hell.

"Oi, old hag!" Tayuya called out. "What can you tell us about the puppet?"

"For starters, the Sandaime Kazekage possessed the **Jiton** bloodline and used it to replicate the Ichibi's control over sand using fine iron particles." Chiyo replied as she barely dodged a particularly sharp pyramid. "It's not as versatile since he has limited ammunition, but he can probably do most of the jutsu Gaara could. Also, Sasori probably soaked it all in pois..." she managed to say before her eyes widened in shock as a she noticed a particularly large object falling towards her.

"Ha!" Ku shouted as she swung her humongous staff and smacked the compressed mass of iron sand away straight towards Sasori who instantly broke it apart into fine iron sand which was easier to divert away from him.

"_**Satetsu Kaihō."**_ Sasori whispered as most of the iron sand converged in a humongous sphere above the allied group.

Ku Fei prepared to smack it away as soon as it was close enough, but what happened next stopped her in her tracks.

Spikes erupted from the sphere in all directions, particularly towards them, in a way eerily similar to Haku's _**Hyoton: **__**Akai Kōri Ne**_. It was faster though, far faster, and they barely had time to dodge or block with something before the ground was pierced by thousands of iron spikes of varying thickness. It was then that they discovered another purpose for the technique besides offense: they were trapped.

"Now then…" Sasori seemed to smirk as the Sandaime Kazekage's mouth opened and a purple sphere shot out towards them.

"_**Sōshūjin."**_ Chiyo whispered as several kunai controlled by chakra threads shot from here weaving through the iron sand spikes and hit the purple sphere which exploded emitting an increasing purple cloud. "Poison!"

In response, the entire group reached towards their satchels as soon as sight of them was obscured of the poison cloud and administered the antidote to themselves. Then, further taking advantage of the opportunity, Ku found a clear shot at the Kazekage puppet and used it to lengthen her staff at high speed, putting a hole through it before pulling it away from a shocked Sasori.

Taking advantage of the Akatsuki member having temporarily lost control of his weapon, Tayuya dashed towards the Kazekage puppet, all the way blasting all the spikes in her path with powerful vibrations. She was a few meters from it when it's right hand suddenly pointed towards her and opened revealing several seals from which hundred of other puppet hands that headed towards her like almost like a wall…

Only to be surrendered by a yellowish chain of chakra and ripped away towards Karrin who then used several ultra-thin chakra threads to cut the puppet hands to pieces, giving Tayuya a clear way.

"_**Yuriton: Hōkai no Sesshoku."**_ the foul mouthed red head declared as the puppet that once been the Sandaime Kazekage was blasted away in mostly dust, only a few metal pieces here and there.

"…You will pay for that." Sasori stated as eh pointed a hand towards Karin and Another towards Tayuya and from the tubes that protruded from his palms thick streams of fire erupted shooting towards the red heads.

"_**Shinra Tensei!"**_ the girls called out in one voice and the fire was repelled for a few seconds, long enough for them to dodge.

"Those eyes…" Sasori whispered with apparent hunger as he focused the flamethrowers on them once again, only to frown as the fire seemed to be sucked into the bodies of the girls until his sealed supply was exhausted. "I see… so you can absorb chakra from ninjutsu."

"You catch on quick, Pinocchio-kun." Ku Fei grinned as he dodged a swing of her humongous staff.

"Well then, I guess I shall reveal my masterpiece to you all." Sasori smirked as he took out a large scroll from which a hundred red clothed puppets of various shapes and sized erupted, all moving under Sasori's control.

"Impressive, ne." Ku Fei whistled. "Even the Doll Master, Eva-chan, has trouble controlling more then a few dozen puppets at the same time."

"Okay, enough screwing around." Karin adjusted her now mostly decorative glasses. "Fei, Tayuya, let's cut loose." she said as chakra erupted from her as she opened no less then three of the Celestial Gates.

"Agreed." Ku smirked as an aura of Ki erupted from her.

"About damn time!" Tayuya grinned viciously as her Seal immediately brought her to her Level Two state.

"Wait, don't…" Chiyo managed to say before the three girls had disappeared with Shundou appearing in the midst of the puppets and began ripping them to pieces.

The two puppet masters watched in shock as in less then a minute the numbers dropped from a hundred to single digits which were standing guard around Sasori.

"Monsters." Sasori mumbled.

"Look who's talking!" Tayuya snorted as she appeared near him and ripped apart half of his guards.

Before her could jump away a chain of chakra erupted from his chest, piercing his 'heart'.

"Any last words?" Karin inquired as she calmly approached, a chakra chain protruding from her back and imbedded in the ground, revealing that it had travelled underground to reach Sasori.

"Gah! It's… messing up my… chakra… con…trol… heh" he laughed softly. "Very… well… I'm expecting a … report …from Kabuto… Tenchi Bridge… in ten days… report on Orochimaru…"

"You're quite open on betraying your allies." Ku remarked.

"Always… hated…" he managed to say before Karin with her Rinnegan active ripped away his soul using the Human Path.

"It's done." Karin whispered after a few seconds and looking pale and quite disgusted, the memories she had ripped from the Puppet Master being quite unpleasant.

She formed a few Kage Bunshin and ordered them to gather the remaining intact puppets and seal them away and was about to do the same with Sasori's own body when a puff of smoke covered Sasori's left hand.

"A reverse summoning, I think." Tayuya growled. "It was the Akatsuki ring. I was taking it off and it disappeared."

"So they've taken measures." Karin sighed.

"No wonder. They've already lost a few." Ku shrugged.

"We'll have to do something about it." Karin sighed.

"What's so important about those rings that they had to place such seals on them?" Chiyo inquired as she gazed upon Sasori's body.

"They're used to regulate the sealing of the biiju in their container." Ku answered.

"Oh well…" Karin shrugged as she sealed Sasori and handed the scroll to Chiyo who nodded in thanks.

"I've sent Naruto a message about it." Tayuya spoke up. "Let's go catch up with them."

_With Naruto's Group_

"I have good news and bad news." Naruto spoke up.

"Good news first." Temari demanded.

"Sasori is dead with no casualties or injuries worth mentioning on our side." Naruto replied.

"And the bad news?" Kakashi inquired as his Mangekyo Sharingan tracked Deidara's erratic flight path, which the bomber had taken to using after Naruto had blasted away one of his legs at the knee with a wave of Sagitta Magica while a Kamui courtesy of Kakashi had ripped away his left arm and most of his shoulder.

"The Akatsuki have taken measures to keep their rings safe. A reverse-summoning seal perhaps." Naruto sighed.

"Damn. It was likely either Nagato or Sasori's work. From our info, they're the only ones with the Fuinjutsu expertise to place such a complex seal on such a small surface." Kakashi grunted.

"Orochimaru could have probably managed as well given enough time." Naruto opined.

"We need to take this guy down now." Temari said as she eyed the forest ahead.

"Disrupt his flight and I'll deal with his bird. I'll use some lightning attacks. It will disrupt the clay and won't do much damage to Gaara's body even if it reaches him." Naruto instructed as he began chanting mentally.

"Got it!" Temari _**"Futon: **__**Ōkamaitachi!"**_ she called out as she swung her fully opened war fan unleashing heavy air currents that collide together to create many vacuum pockets to slash at the giant clay bird.

As expected, Deidara managed to barely dodge though his control was rather shaky due to the powerful currents.

"_**Iaculatio Fulgoris!"**_ Naruto announced as roughly a hundred spears of lightning shot into the sky, several of them piercing the clay bird and rendering it immobile, causing it to crash land just at the edge of the forest.

A few Chishio Bunshin quickly arrived and recovered Gaara's body and took it away from the bird while the ninja dashed after Deidara. As soon as they caught sight of them though, they stopped in their tracks.

"Hehe, you're not taking me alive!" a maniacaly laughing Deidara greeted them as his body continued to bulge. "I'm…"

"A Clay Clone." Naruto declared after a quick inspection with the Rinnegan _**"Shinra Tensei!"**_ he said calmly as he blasted away the clone causing it to explode further away. "Now where is… what the fuck?!" his eyes widened as his four Dojutsu fusion gazed at something a distance away before he deactivated them.

"What is it?" Kakashi demanded.

"He got away." Naruto sighed. "The guy with the orange spiral mask took him away.

"Madara?" Kakashi tensed.

"Supposedly." Naruto muttered. "But half of his body was like Zetsu's while the other did not look anywhere near his supposed age, even with various medical jutsu to keep him young."

"So he's not really Madara?" Temari frowned.

"I don't know. Like I said before, the mask has seals that prevent me to see his face. More effective then our ANBU masks even." Naruto sighed as she walked over to Gaara's body before suddenly looking in the direction they came from before relaxing.

As he inspected Gaara's body Chiyo, Karin, Ku and Tayuya landed around them.

"We took one of his arms and a leg at the knee, but Tobi took him away before we could finish the job." Naruto said before the question was even spoken.

"I see." Chiyo sighed as she kneeled next to Gaara's body.

"So… what now?" Naruto inquired he gazed at her with his fused Dojutsu as he had used them for examining Gaara.

"Now I fulfill my duty to Gaara." Chiyo spoke softy earning a few raised eyebrows as she placed her hands over Gaara's body emitting a powerful blue glow.

"T-That's…!" Karin's Mangekyo Sharingan-Gokei Byakugan eyes widened in shock at the scene.

"Life transfer jutsu?!" Naruto recognized the effects as his eyes literally saw the life leave Chiyo's body and enter Gaara's. It was more then chakra, it was literally the transfer of life from each cell of her body into the target. Naruto was reasonably certain that this technique could possibly breathe life into something that has never been alive in the first place, considering the effect it had on Gaara. Even the cells that had been dead long before the extraction were being given life.

"Oi, if she finishes that…" Tayuya pointed out.

"She's already beyond the point of no return." Naruto groaned. "Reckless old hag. While self-sacrifice is what the best shinobi embody, being suicidal is not."

"Maybe… but this is my responsibility…" Chiyo whispered. "Look after Gaara, will you? He's still rough around the edges, but he's a better Kazekage then either his father… or the Sandaime…"

"Damn straight, he's my brother in law." Naruto smirked.

"Good…" Chiyo smiled as she finished the jutsu and collapsed on her back just as Gaara opened his eyes.

"Yo, how's it going." Naruto greeted the red haired Kage.

"Naruto?" Gaara blinked a few times. "Wasn't I…?"

"Dead? Yeah, you were for a while. You can thank Chiyo here for reviving you…" Naruto spoke as his Susanoo materialized and drew the Tenseiga "After I revive her." With that the Heavenly Rebirth Fang swung through Chiyo's body enveloping her in a blue aura for a few seconds.

Slowly opening her eyes Chiyo looked around before her gaze froze on Naruto and Gaara.

"Congratulations. Your 'playing dead' performance has reached a new height." Naruto deadpanned.

"I'm… alive?" the old lady blinked in shock a few times as she took stock of her surroundings.

"Yes. And next time don't start a self-sacrifice jutsu without listening to the alternatives. Not to brag, but I know all kinds of jutsu." Naruto smirked while internally adding _"Though I only had the Tenseiga and the __**Gedō: Rinne Tensei no jutsu**__ as true resurrection methods. With this… __**Kishō Tensei**__ I believe is the right name for it… I have three. And I sure as hell won't be teaching it to someone else."_

"Well, we should head back to Suna since…" Kakashi began only to pause and soon enough dozens of Suna nin arrived at the scene.

"Gaara!" Kankuro exclaimed as he landed at his brother's side.

"The council actually gave you permission to come here? And so many?" Naruto asked in shock.

"Unfortunately, the council was indisposed… something related to them inhaling experimental paralysis poison… so, as a proud jounin of Sunagakure I did what I thought was best for my village." Kankuro smirked.

"…Heh, I knew Gaara kept you around for something, makeup-boy." Naruto grinned.

"**It's War Paint!"** Kankuro shouted to the heavens.

"**Gaara-sama!"** a hellish squeal was heard and Naruto was instantly away from the Kazekage who now had a few girls fussing over him.

The _look_ Gaara gave the blond was clearly one of betrayal.

The shrug Naruto gave in return clearly said 'Better you then me'.

_Timeskip – Two Days Later – Konohagakure, Hokage's Office_

"…and after the Kazakage and his brother saw us off we returned here with the Hiraishin. Also, Gaara assured us that he will arrange a place for Naruto to set his Hiraishin markers within the village." Kakashi finished his report.

"I see." Tsunade nodded in satisfaction. "Karin, what's the word on the information you acquired from Sasori?"

"Kabuto was indeed one of his spies." Karin replied. "And he will be at Tenchi Bridge eight days from now."

"However, Orochimaru was the one who arranged for Sasori to recruit Kabuto and the snake also removed the seal Sasori placed on Kabuto. It's actually Sasori who was being spied on, not Orochimaru." Naruto put his two cent in.

"Either way, Kabuto is likely to be there at the provided time." Tsunade mussed. "It's an opportunity. We haven't been able to pinpoint Orochimaru's location for a while now."

"Akatsuki doesn't know his location either as far as Sasori knew. Though the masked guy most likely knows. Also, Tobi has been acting like a complete imbecile among the Akatsuki. He probably is only showing his true self to Nagato and Konan. Deidara hasn't shown to know otherwise so his memories have likely been modified." Karin provided.

"I see. Well, I will decide on a team to take care of this." Tsunade decided.

"I request to be on it." Kakashi spoke up.

"Me as well. And Anko." Naruto added.

"I'm willing to go as a medic nin." Karin added.

"I'll think about it." Tsunade nodded before adding "Yes Tayuya, I know you want to go as well." this closed the red head's mouth. "Now everyone besides Naruto is dismissed."

As soon as the others left Tsunade sent away the ANBU guards as well and activated the privacy seals… and then seized Naruto's lips and began to undress, the male blond following her example.

"Aren't you eager?" Naruto remarked as she went down on him.

"More then half of week of paperwork without stress relief does that." Tsunade joke.

"You poor thing."

**A.N.: Another chapter done. Took a while to write, I know, but in my defense I'm still having trouble planning on how to have Naruto deal with the more fragile/mortal opponents.**

**Also, I need some advice on something: should I have the Shippuden Movie 2 before or after the Hidan & Kakuzu Arc? And should I kill Kabuto in the next chapter or keep him around until the Fourth Shinobi World War? Either works for me, to be honest.**

**New Jutsu:**

**Kekkai: Hansha-kyū – Barrier: Reflective Sphere**

**Reviews feed my imagination, so feel free to write them.**


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